July 26th - A hearing between FTP and the AGCC to determine whether FTP's gaming license should continue to be suspended. It was supposed to be a public hearing but in private lawyers for FTP asked for an application to adjourn the meeting until a later date which was granted. The new hearing date was set to be September 15th
August 1st - Kahnawake gaming commission agreed to renew FTP's secondary client provider authorization.
August 22nd - FTP's silence is finally broken when attorney Jeff Ifrah speaks out and gives some minor details about the FTP situation. Ifrah reported he was finally able to speak about the situation because an exclusivity agreement between a potential investor and FTP expired. read more
August 30th - FTP releases another statement, including details about $115M they claim has been seized over the past two years, that there are indeed investors who are actively examining FTP for purchase, and that any deal will result in new management at FTP. read more
September 14 - FTP releases another statement which includes references to upcoming personnel cuts and that negotiations with investor(s) is ongoing. read more
September 15th - Scheduled hearing date between FTP and the Alderney Gambling Control Commission to determine whether FTP's gaming license will be renewed and allowing them to again service non-US based customers.(moved to the 19th)
September 19th-20th - Scheduled hearing began behind closed doors, accusations of "global Ponzi scheme" and accused of taking $440m from its players, the hearing was concluded; FTP must now wait for the AGCC's decision. read more
September 20th - Tom “durrrr” Dwan talks about FTP read more
September 21st - Potential French investor for FTP seams strong. read more
September 22nd - Gus Hanson comments briefly on FTP read more
September 23rd - DOJ Moves to Seize FTP Board Members’ Funds
Joined: Aug '10
Location: Germany
Age: 52 (M)
Posts: 2219
Verry nice overview for the unbelievable FT-Story! You have had a lot of work and this overview show us one of the biggest scandal´s in the online pokerworld. Ty!
Is there any story at all lol? It seems to me that almost every announcment is the same - FTP stolen our money. The only thing that changes is the amount of stolen money, every announcment adds another millions of dollars.
Joined: Apr '11
Location: Romania
Age: 35 (M)
Posts: 6669
Nice post, it's good to remember how all this huge scandal started, now a big question to me personally is if the balck friday never happend in some point in time full tilt would also close?
Sounds like a weird question but if all the rumoars about this platform are true, i think they didn't need a black friday to close the site.
Lets hope all will have a happy end and at least non us players will get their money back
Joined: Mar '08
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 44 (M)
Posts: 6714
Posted by Mober: Nice one summarizing what has happened so far. From all this i seemed to lost the news of the 23d of September. More bad news there.
Actually this is good news, ish, what they have done is took control over the accounts of the accused, along with traceable assets, so with a bit of luck they will be linked to deposits and put back to FT, or at least cause them some problems paying bills etc, so they know how it feels for others the screwed. It also includes property related to them accounts.
Joined: Oct '09
Location: Spain
Age: 60 (M)
Posts: 2851
Very nice recap B1gfoot !
Hope the next one will have a date and time with something more positive behind it. I really want the site back, if not for the cash, for the software. Was always my favourite...
Joined: Mar '08
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 44 (M)
Posts: 6714
September 27th - FTP respond to Ponzi Scheme allegations.
“On September 19, 2011, the Department of Justice issued a release stating that Full Tilt Poker was “A Global Ponzi Scheme.” While the government has taken issue with the underlying activities of FTP, under any reasonable interpretation, there is no way to characterize the operation of Full Tilt Poker’s virtual online card room as a global Ponzi scheme. A “Ponzi” scheme is an investment fraud that involves the payment of purported returns to existing investors from funds contributed by new investors. Ponzi schemes do not involve any legitimate investment, but rather use the new investor funds to pay “dividends” to the initial investors. Despite recent events, FTP remains committed to identifying a suitable investor and paying back its players in full.”
It has also been Rumoured that a deal was made with the French investor, some say that is imposable as the attorney acting on behalf of Full Tilt Poker had stated the investors were not meeting representatives of the DoJ until Friday this week probably not until Monday of next week. But he would say that, my view, its sold.
Joined: Mar '09
Location: Greece
Age: 47 (F)
Posts: 14136
So basically FT said that the allegations about the ponzi scheme were wrong, quoted the same from all last News releases :FTP remains committed to identifying a suitable investor and paying back its players in full.
So now we dont have a fixed date on anything. This last hearing i think was even more messed up than the last one
Joined: Aug '10
Location: Germany
Age: 52 (M)
Posts: 2219
It seems, this would be a neverending story... But the rarely news we got are really unbelivable. We haven´t know it without the "Black Friday" and now we have only the little chance, that a new investor buy FT...
Joined: Apr '11
Location: Romania
Age: 35 (M)
Posts: 6669
"Adam Schwartz, who is a respected and influential personality in the online poker community, claims to have heard a rumor that states that the sale of Full Tilt Poker is now done.
"Heard a rumor that the FTP sale to French investors was done," Schwartz told in his Twitter earlier today.
Later Schwartz also hinted that his source was "very reputable":
"I was told by what I feel (and most of you would too btw) is a very reputable source. The person doesn't want me to say their name.
Obviously I wouldn't have said it if someone sitting next to me in the $1/$2 game told me. If some of you are unhappy that I tweeted it, what can I say, I felt it was worthy of some confidence"
However, no official statement has not yet been issued about a possible deal, and Schwartz's comment is still just a rumor.
Jeff Ifrah, a lawyer associated with Full Tilt, has told earlier, that any deal would include full repayment of all player balances."
Joined: Apr '11
Location: Romania
Age: 35 (M)
Posts: 6669
We already know some players had over 1 mil in their ftp account, here is another guy & story:
"This past February Blair “blur5f6″ Hinkle won $1.2 million in a Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS) main event. His prize was one of the largest the site had ever awarded, and Hinkle is still waiting for his money, according to C************m.
According to Hinkle, after the huge score, Full Tilt Poker took about a month to respond to his emails asking to raise his $8,000 per-day limit on cashing out. The site then asked him to re-verify his account. By the time the process was over, it was April and Black Friday had hit the poker community.
-Things would be way different if I had my Full Tilt money, but at the same time I’m pretty happy with where I’m right now — just trying to stay positive.
-I think if Full Tilt goes under, there is a chance, at least I am hoping, that I will get at least 20 percent of money back because they’ll have to liquidate [Ray Bitar, Howard Lederer, Chris Ferguson, and Rafe Furst’s] assets in order to pay back some of the money.
-Depending on what the Department of Justice confiscated and whatever else could happen, I am obviously going to try and get as much back as possible. Let’s hope they get this investor and can take care of it quick, because it doesn’t look like they have a big window anymore, Hinkle tells.
25-year-old Blair Hinkle is also a winner of a World Series of Poker bracelet in 2008."
