Poker pros sold Full Tilt players down the river Not quite an honest game By Lawrence Latif TheInquirer.net
Wed Sep 21 2011, 17:22 http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2111073/poker-pros-sold-tilt-players-river PROFESSIONAL POKER PLAYERS Chris Ferguson, Howard Lederer and Rafael Furst have been accused of bilking tens of millions through their poker web site, Full Tilt Poker. The US Department of Justice (DoJ) has waged a war on online gambling and has managed to curtail the success of online poker outfits. However the accusation it has leveled against Full Tilt Poker claims it was little more than a Ponzi scheme and that some of the well known poker players behind the operation took money that wasn't theirs. Ferguson, who was the 2000 no-limit Texas Hold'em World Series of Poker main event champion and has the nickname 'Jesus' due to his appearance, is alleged to have received $24m from Full Tilt Poker. Lederer, known as the Professor due to his playing style, has been accused of receiving $38m. The problem is, according to the DoJ, the two chaps received the cash even when the firm wasn't able pay its creditors, the players. The DoJ claims that in March 2011 Full Tilt Poker owed $390m to players but had only $60m in cash. It alleges that by June Lederer told other Full Tilt Poker insiders that the company had just $6m in the bank while it owed over $300m. The poker web site was shut down on 30 June. Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara said, "Full Tilt was not a legitimate poker company, but a global Ponzi scheme." The DoJ claims that the operation defrauded over $300m from poker players while the 23 owners of Full Tilt Poker took out $444m. The DoJ alleges that Ferguson, Lederer and other owners continued to receive millions every month even though the online gambling operation couldn't settle its debts. There have been reports of players having their accounts suspended, wiping out their winnings and not giving the players a chance to appeal, and now players will start to wonder if their accounts were suspended in order to pay Ferguson and his friends. Some have questioned the US stance on bringing down online poker web sites through the argument that they violate 1960s anti-gambling laws. However if the DoJ can prove that the owners of Full Tilt Poker were in fact taking players' cash and giving them little or no chance of seeing it again, then the DoJ might finally gain support for its actions from poker players. -- ================================================= George Antunes Voice (713) 743-3923 Associate Professor Fax (713) 743-3927 Political Science Mail: antunes at uh dot edu University of Houston Houston, TX 77204-3011 _______________________________________________ Medianews mailing list [email protected] http://lists.etskywarn.net/mailman/listinfo/medianews
