http://www.smh.com.au/world/players-dealt-out-in-poker-fraud-20110921-1kl4t.html Players dealt out in poker fraud New York September 22, 2011 THE international online gambling site Full Tilt Poker stole $US440 million ($A430 million) from players around the world in a Ponzi scheme used to pay lavish fees to board members, US prosecutors say.
Full Tilt ''defrauded players by misrepresenting that their funds on deposit in online gambling accounts were safe, secure, and available for withdrawal at any time'', the US Attorney's Office for Southern Manhattan said. ''In reality, Full Tilt Poker did not maintain funds sufficient to repay all players, and in addition the company used player funds to pay board members and other owners more than $US440 million since April 2007.'' The senior prosecutor, US Attorney Preet Bharara, said the site's top figures, including famed poker champions Howard Lederer and Christopher Ferguson, ''lined their own pockets with funds picked from the pockets of their most loyal customers, while blithely lying to both players and the public alike about the safety and security of the money deposited with the company''. In a classic pyramid scheme, gamblers were given the impression that they still had money deposited and were allowed to keep gambling, even when all that remained were ''phantom'' funds, prosecutors said. The company ended up owing $US390 million worldwide. AFP Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/players-dealt-out-in-poker-fraud-20110921-1kl4t.html#ixzz1YnaFglFQ [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ Post message: [email protected] Subscribe : [email protected] Unsubscribe : [email protected] List owner : [email protected] Homepage : http://proletar.8m.com/Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
