The purchase of Full Tilt Poker has been in the pipeline for some time but it is now confirmed that French investor Groupe Bernard Tapie has made an agreement with the U.S. Justice Department to acquire Full Tilt Poker for $80 Million. GBT will endeavor to resurrect Full Tilt’s operations but outside of the U.S.
Full Tilt has never paid its U.S poker players’ their account balance of $150 million. Those players have been looking for their funds through the Justice Department. This agreement between GBT and the US DOJ ensures that some funds from Full Tilt’s bank accounts be given to the investment group. Groupe Bernard Tapie will buy the company’s assets from the government, and the government could then use those funds to pay back players. Full Tilt’s current C.E.O is backing this deal as it would lead for U.S poker players to get paid.
Back in April 2011, the U.S Department of Justice had shut down the U.S. business of Full Tilt Poker, PokerStars and Absolute Poker which were the biggest online poker sites. The government also indicted Full Tilt’s C.E.O Mr. Raymond Bitar and other partners on criminal charges and filed a $3 billion civil suit against the three companies and seeking $1 billion from Full Tilt Poker.
The charges made against those companies were that they were dabbling in bank fraud, money laundering and running illegal gambling operations. But all those allegations have been denied by the indicted poker sites.
Full Tilt’s management was also accused of paying themselves hefty sums of money; $444 million, while their players’ capitals were shrinking, which the U.S. attorney attributed to a “Ponzi scheme”. Full Tilt has also denied this charge.
Full Tilt was licensed in the U.K.’s Channel Islands before its license to operate around the world was revoked in September 2011. The saga looks set to continue until such time that the USA legalizes online poker in the USA.
Written for Online Poker Online by Helen