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Ray Bitar (CEO of FTP) Surrenders Himself To US Gov
33 2012-07-02 17:33:11
Check out the e-mail sent to FTP Staff:
To all Dublin Staff,
By now you probably have heard that I have returned to the US to deal with civil and criminal case that are pending against me in New York. We have all worked hard over the last 15 months to preserve Full Tilt’s assets and potential in order to provide for the repayment of all players, and that continues to be our top priority. It is as important as ever that we all do everything possible to make that happen and, hopefully our deal with Poker Stars will very soon make our goal a reality. My return to the US is part of this process.
I am particularly grateful to all of you here in Dublin for your hard work, patience and understanding during this difficult time. I believe that your hard work and dedication should not go unrecognized, and we have made arrangements for Poker Stars to guarantee all July salaries. You should therefore have no concern about coming to work during this period. After that, we expect that your employment contracts will be assumed by the buyer of the company’s assets.
For those that need to reach me, I expect to continue to be available by email and phone starting late Monday, New York time.
In the meantime, please refer any operational questions to **REDACTED**, and any HR questions to **REDACTED**.
Thank you all again.
Kind regards,
Raymond J Bitar
The rumours of the PokerStars deal to buy out FTP are starting to sound more plausible now! Let's hope this means refunds are just around the corner!
To all Dublin Staff,
By now you probably have heard that I have returned to the US to deal with civil and criminal case that are pending against me in New York. We have all worked hard over the last 15 months to preserve Full Tilt’s assets and potential in order to provide for the repayment of all players, and that continues to be our top priority. It is as important as ever that we all do everything possible to make that happen and, hopefully our deal with Poker Stars will very soon make our goal a reality. My return to the US is part of this process.
I am particularly grateful to all of you here in Dublin for your hard work, patience and understanding during this difficult time. I believe that your hard work and dedication should not go unrecognized, and we have made arrangements for Poker Stars to guarantee all July salaries. You should therefore have no concern about coming to work during this period. After that, we expect that your employment contracts will be assumed by the buyer of the company’s assets.
For those that need to reach me, I expect to continue to be available by email and phone starting late Monday, New York time.
In the meantime, please refer any operational questions to **REDACTED**, and any HR questions to **REDACTED**.
Thank you all again.
Kind regards,
Raymond J Bitar
The rumours of the PokerStars deal to buy out FTP are starting to sound more plausible now! Let's hope this means refunds are just around the corner!
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Viewing 1-20 of 33 comments
i hope this means he will sing like a canary and get all the crooks including howard and
jesus the whole board atleast so we can know what really happen. i dont see silence for
much longer among them crooks.
2012-07-04 04:44:36
Its not about right or wrong, its about what you would do and why.
2012-07-04 02:22:23
alright I'll give you this win, but you're wrong on the other lol
2012-07-04 02:17:08
Which, because I am more awesome and you are obv. Not chuck Norris, means I win.
2012-07-04 02:14:17
it's a semantic argument
2012-07-04 02:07:43
Did the entire account first not have to be siezed in order to determine the amount
attributed to US players? That would mean that pokerstars agreed not to fight the siezure
of the 5.5 mil if the rest was released back to them to which the DOJ apparently agreed.
You have to sieze the entire account in order to investigate otherwise pokerstars could of
continued using it.
2012-07-04 02:04:58
"WHEREAS, PokerStars has represented that $5.5 Million in funds held in an account
numbered 272010 (the "Account") at Bank lim Luxemburg derived from online poker play for
real money in the United States, and the United States Attorney's contends that such
funds are subject to seizure, restraint, and forfeiture pursuant to Title 18, United
States Code, Sections 1955 . . . .
The Feds are saying that the $5.5m is being seized . . .
" . . . the Government and PokerStars have reached an agreement pursuant to which
PokerStars consents to the restraint of $5.5 million in the Account for the dependency of
the above captioned case . . . "
Pokerstars agrees that $5.5m is being seized
" . . . . and the Government agrees that it does not object to PokerStars' use of the
remaining funds in that account . . . "
The Government isn't seizing the rest
http://www.subjectpoker.com/files/extra/FTP-lux-account-rele...pdf
^^ read it for yourself instead of relying on news reports
2012-07-04 01:58:45
lol . . . . you are basing your position on a news story rather than reading the document
itself. I did link it there for you, read it.
2012-07-04 01:45:33
You live on a river in Egypt.
2012-07-04 01:38:47
that is clearly a tie dude
you say released, I say not seized
Brian - 1
Curt - 1
2012-07-04 01:06:14
Does it matter? You stated that none of the funds had been released, and you have been
shown that indeed at least some funds were released. Moral of the story....... Unless your
Chuck Norris don't tangle with my awesome without the facts.
Brian - 1
Curt - 0
2012-07-04 00:26:00
since you asked . . . . .
as to the 'either they did or they didn't" release funds, it's a matter of semantics. They
froze a bank account, but by a stipulated agreement, limited that freeze to $5.5m. So you
can look at it as they froze the whole account, and then "released" a balance over and
above the $5.5 million, or you can look at it as they clarified only $5.5m was frozen. It
becomes a semantic argument, and we can both say we are right or wrong.
It is meaningless because we don't know how much money was over and above the $5.5m . . .
was it substantial, or was it insignificant? I found no way of knowing in my search.
Did you find out how much money was "released"?
2012-07-03 23:37:48
curtinsea
"They never released any funds"
Either they did or they didn't, how is it meaningless? Not to split hairs
2012-07-03 23:12:32
http://www.subjectpoker.com/files/extra/FTP-lux-account-rele...pdf
2012-07-03 15:06:20
not to split hairs (though I seem to enjoy doing just that) . . . .
reading what happened there, it in essence simply limited the seizure in that one account
to $5.5m
there is no mention of how much money was actually in the account, and the $5.5m was
claimed to be player money, the reason it was still frozen.
Without knowing how much money was actually in the account, the report is fairly
meaningless
2012-07-03 15:05:06
I remember those reports, but I also remember DoJ denying any funds were released. I only
find reports, I can't find the actual press release from the DoJ. But I don't find the
denial either, so I'll stand corrected
2012-07-03 14:57:15
pokerstars-account-20029/" target="_blank">http://www.pokernewsdaily.com/u-s-doj-releases-funds-from-on...29/
http://www.cardplayer.com/poker-news/11974-the-department-of...nds
http://www.subjectpoker.com/2011/09/doj-releases-some-stars-...ds/
2012-07-03 14:47:14
They never released any funds
all they did was allow Pokerstars to refund players, the Feds didn't give them the money
back to do it with, it came out of the pocket of Pokerstars.
And to me, the thought of IRS just ignoring the tax implications of all this is
preposterous . . . . that would seem to be completely out of character for an agency that
hassles taxpayers to their graves over small amounts of money, grown huge by penalties and
interest.
2012-07-03 14:41:33
Maybe if you believe their intent was to punish the players and not the sites, which I
really don't think that was their intent at all, if it was, why would the DOJ have even
released funds when they could of kept em all. Then again I'm a glass half full kind of
guy, then I drink it.
2012-07-03 14:29:58
a reasonable assumption B . . . if I was in charge of IRS, I would sure be looking
through accounts for scofflaws
:)
2012-07-03 14:12:27
Viewing 1-20 of 33 comments