Two months after being back to federal custody, Isai Scheinberg, the founder of PokerStars, pled guilty in a New York federal court on March 25 Wednesday to running an illegal online poker site.
Black Friday, in the poker world, refers to the events of April 15, 2011 when the U.S. Department of Justice issued an indictment against the three biggest online poker sites in the country: Absolute Poker, Full Tilt Poker, and PokerStars.
The last of those to face federal justice was 73-year-old Israeli-Canadian Isai Scheinberg.
Seven years after the Black Friday, an event that shook the poker world with poker's big three (Full Tilt Poker, PokerStars, and Ultimate Bet) getting indicted, Chris Ferguson finally re-emerged issuing an apology for his role in it.
Beginning June 1, 2018, all apps that offer any type of poker will be banned in China. Playing and promoting poker on all forms of social media channels will be banned. Therefore, it is expected that the number of Chinese players at legal regional games will drop dramatically.
The 84-year-old Poker Hall of Famer says the Doyles Room poker site co-owner has ‘recurring nightmares about it.' The two-time WSOP Main Event champ is pretty much doing well for himself, but his poker bankroll could have been boosted up with a nine-figure profit if only he had said ‘yes' to a business offer proposed to him over a decade ago.
After six long years since the Black Friday devastated the online poker world, the scandal left by previous Full Tilt Poker owners still continues to rear its ugly head and make it to the news headlines this end of 2017.
It looks like that the co-founder of Absolute Poker Scott Tom had finally put an end to his long-running legal case with the U.S. government, and for sure the poker players who became victims of the fraudulent site will not be happy to know that he escaped with very little punishment.
Unfortunately for online poker fans, the New York State Assembly will not be passing a bill seeking to legalize online poker before the chamber adjourns on June 21, Wednesday.
Last February, the co-founder of Absolute Poker has suddenly returned to the United States, who said he wishes to face the years-old charges made against him. Late last month, after he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge, he will then be sentenced this autumn in New York.
Scott Tom has lived as a fugitive from the US justice. After almost six years, the 37-year old has voluntarily decided to go back to the US for his desire to "just get this behind him." He faces the charges of violating the Unlawful Internet Enforcement Act and was engaged in money laundering and bank fraud.
There were mixed emotions when Chris Ferguson showed up last week at the World Series of Poker. Many of the players were not happy to see him returning. Nevertheless, there were some who urged him to come clean and tell his side over what happened at Full Tilt Poker.
On Wednesday, ex-Full Tilt Poker owner Howard Lederer released a statement via Daniel Negreanus's blog on Black Friday (April 15, 2011) when Full Tilt Poker (along with another 2 major poker sites) was closed down by the United States Department of Justice and thousands of players couldn't withdraw their funds for years to come. Negreanu's blog post in red and Lederers statement in black.
Since Black Friday back in 2011 we have heard from Howard in a radio interview as well as an extensive "Lederer Files" interview conducted by PokerNews. Neither was received well and one of the more common objections to those interviews was the lack of personal responsibility for what ultimately happened. Much of the Lederer Files interview was spent deflecting blame and there was no real sense of a meaningful apology for his role in all of it. My assumption is that Howard did those interviews to clear his name to some degree, but I think it just enraged people even more. There was a smugness and an arrogance present during that interview that was off-putting to many.
On Wednesday, Amaya announced that its PokerStars and Full Tilt brands (currently more than 95 million registered costomers combined) had been authorised to operate in New Jersey, USA. Both sites have been "offline" in the United States for more than four years after Black Friday, so this is definitely good news to many online poker enthusiast in the state of New Jersey, where 888, partypoker and two other sites currently operate.
Gus Hansen has surpassed $20 million in all-time career losses after yet another disastrous week at Full Tilt Poker's nosebleed tables. Hansen has lost approximately $920k this month alone, bringing his losses this year to $5.5 million!
A big congratulations to Jesse McEuen, the winner of Event #47: $1,500 Ante Only NL Hold'em! McEuen bested a field of 714 players over three days of play to lay hands on his first gold coveted bracelet and $212,093 in prize money!
Final table results:
1st: Jesse McEuen - $212,093 2nd: Jonas Lauck - $130,955 3rd: Rhys Jones - $85,131 4th: Simeon Naydenov - $62,528 5th: Adam Levy - $46,575 6th: Ryan D'Angelo - $35,143 7th: Herbert Yarbrough - $26,825 8th: Jeremy Joseph - $20,704 9th: Arthur Pro - $16,145
In the aftermath of Black Friday, Kristin Wilson saw a great opportunity and grabbed it. The native Floridian, ex pro surfer turned real-estate entrepreneur, embarked on a new adventure that would result in more or less constant travelling across the Americas and Europe - all in the name of online poker.
Poker Refugees has made it their business to offer poker players help to relocate to friendlier and more tolerant online gambling jurisdictions and provide the assistance to make the move as easy as possible. The Poker Refugees team is spread out all over the globe and will make sure that clients will adjust to their new location smoothly and hassle-free in order to be able to focus on what they came there to do – play online poker.
The services that Poker Refugees are providing for the soon-to-be-in-exile poker players includes everything from practical help in sorting out accommodation, internet providers and contact with the local poker community to referrals to local lawyers, accountants and any other specialized professionals that might come in handy.
Kristin and her team is primarily operating on the American and European continent. Some of the more popular destinations where Poker Refugees has been relocating poker players to are Canada, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, Malta, Holland, Hungary, Dominican Republic and the United Kingdom. BankrollMob had the great pleasure to ask Kristin a few questions about Poker Refugees, the past, the present and the future.
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has now hired a Claims Administrator, Garden City Group, and claims that U.S. players soon will be able to make claims. According to one news site, about 1.3 million players are still waiting for their money since Black Friday (April 15, 2011) and the amount owed is about $159,000,000.
PokerStars purchased Full Tilt Poker for more than $730 million in July 2012 - the amount included money for the DOJ to repay U.S. players. Three former Full Tilt Poker managers/owners have settled their civil cases with the government since then: Rafe Furst, Howard Lederer and Chris Ferguson. Former CEO Ray Bitar still faces several charges and might spend the rest of his life in prison.
Click here to visit the Full Tilt Poker claims site.
On Tuesday, Chris Ferguson's attorney, Ian J. Imrich, revealed that Ferguson filed for a settlement with the United States Court Southern District of New York. Here are some "highlights" of the settlement:
Ferguson to hand over at least $2,350,000, along with "all funds in the Ferguson Account (the "Ferguson Account Funds")." I don't know what the figure in those accounts would be. At one point the government was seeking $42mm from Ferguson.Read more » Chris Ferguson Settles Black Friday Charges
Howard Lederer, the former Full Tilt Poker president, settled with the U.S. District Court in New York on Tuesday the 18th of December. Lederer agreed to pay more than $2.5 million to settle the civil suit that was brought on him by the U.S. government.
According to Bluff Magazine, "Lederer will turn over to the government two bank accounts of unknown value, a 1965 Shelby Cobra roadster, two Las Vegas properties with a combined value of approximately $975,000 and an additional $30,000 traceable to the sale of a third Las Vegas property".
In addition, "Lederer also agreed to pay the government a two-part money judgment, comprised of a civil money laundering penalty of $1.25 million and an additional $168,000 that will be liquidated from certain of Lederer’s other bank accounts. The money laundering penalty is payable in two installments, due 18 months and 36 months from now, and is secured by Lederer’s two remaining Las Vegas properties".
With Lederer's settlement, two of the four people that was "personally named" in the Black Friday case against Full Tilt has reached an agreement with the court. A few weeks ago, the former director Rafe Furst settled his case with the U.S. District Court in New York by paying a $150,000 penalty.
Chris Ferguson and Ray Bitar's cases remains pending.
Former Full Tilt Poker board of director Rafe Furst, who had a minor role in the day-to-day operations of the site, has settled the claims against him. Furst and the U.S. Attorneys Office agreed to a Stipulation and Order of Settlement that allows Furst to admit no wrongdoing in the case, but the government has seized an unknown amount from his bank accounts in Switzerland.
Daniel Negreanu has been very busy as of late with travelling, playing poker tournaments etc. However, now he's back home and even took some time to put together a rant that he released yesterday. His latest video is about one thing, and one thing only, The Lederer Files (the video interviews with Howard Lederer about the Full Tilt Poker scandal).
On Monday, Full Tilt Poker announced another two names that have joined Gus Hansen as members of the new team of ambassadors known collectively as "The Professionals". The two players are Tom "durrrr" Dwan and Viktor "Isildur1" Blom and the press release says that the they will "reignite a fierce competition at the highest stakes tables on the Full Tilt Poker site."
Howard "The Poker Professor" Lederer, the previous Full Tilt Poker owner, is back at the poker tables. On Monday, he was seen taking part in high stakes cash games with other well-known poker pros at Bellagio's casino in Las Vegas. On Tuesday, he was seen at Aria's casino, playing against Nick Schhulman, David Oppenheim, Huck Seed, and other big names.
A new series about poker has just popped up on the web. The series has the title "Game Theory" and is described like this by its creators:
"Game Theory is a dramatic web series following a poker rounder who uses his skill to navigate the world of live cash games as his bankroll grow from scratch."
Last week, PokerStars's purhase of Full Tilt through the U.S. Department of Justice was completed, which meant that all non-us players will receive their money within 90 days. However, customers in the U.S. might have to wait a bit longer than that before they get their money refunded.
According to an employment notice listed on the DOJ website, the government is seeking a third-party claims administrator to help facilitate the remission process for Full Tilt Poker players located in the U.S. The deadline to apply for the position is August 31st, so it might take a few more weeks before information about the remission plan is made public.
Last week, PokerStars's purhase of Full Tilt through the U.S. Department of Justice was completed, which meant that all non-us players will receive their money within 90 days. However, customers in the U.S. might have to wait a bit longer than that before they get their money refunded.
According to an employment notice listed on the DOJ website, the government is seeking a third-party claims administrator to help facilitate the remission process for Full Tilt Poker players located in the U.S. The deadline to apply for the position is August 31st, so it might take a few more weeks before information about the remission plan is made public.
Last week, PokerStars' purchase of Full Tilt Poker through the Department of Justice was officially completed, which means that all non-U.S. players will be get their money back - totalling $184 million - within 90 days. In total, $225 million was transferred to the U.S. government last Thursday, and the remaining $547 million will be paid over the next 3 years.
Last Friday it was reported by numerous sources that PokerStars had finalized a deal with the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) to pay back frozen Full Tilt Poker player funds. Besides that, some people claimed that Full Tilt Poker will be back online in November this year.
The rumor that PokerStars is interested in buying Full Tilt Poker started popping up already in April this year. It came as a huge surprise since the French investment group Group Bernard Tapie had been the potentional buyer for several months. Something that added fuel to these rumors was when Alex Dreyfus, CEO of Chili Gaming, wrote that PokerStars had paid $750 million to acquire Full Tilt and settle its outstanding legal issues with DOJ.
In January, Ira Rubin pleaded guilty to conspiracy in connection with his role as payment processor for PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker. He faced a maximum penalty of 55 years, but since he pleaded guilty many expected him to get away with a much lighter sentence. And so he did...
According to Bloomberg, Ira Rubin was recently sentenced to three year in prison and order to forfeit $5,000,000. Bloomberg also revealed that Rubin cannot participate in any business occupation related to payment processing or financial services once he's out of prison.
On Monday, Absolute Poker co-founder Brent Beckley got a 14-month prison sentence for his involvement with the online poker site's illegal actions before Black Friday. Beckley pleaded guilty to criminal charges, including bank fraud and wire fraud, in December last year. However, the 14-month sentence probably is a big relief for Beckley since he was facing a maximum sentence of 30 years.
In total, 6 of the 11 men who were accused after Black Friday have pleaded guilty to their crimes. The ones who still haven't pleaded guilty are: Ray Bitar & Nelson Burtwich from Full Tilt Poker, Isai Scheinberg and Paul Tate from PokerStars and Scott Tom from Absolute Poker
It's not very often that Phil Ivey has the time or wants to sit down for a "proper interview". In fact, it took about 3 years until WSOP's Nollan Dalla was invited over to Ivey's private trailer in the parking lot aside the mammoth tournament area at the Rio for a seocnd one-on-one interview with the world's best poker player.
In the interview, Phil said that he's happy to have made it to 5 final tables in two weeks at the 2012 WSOP but that he's never satisfied with coming second in a tournament.
No, I don't get any satisfaction from second place at all. It's all about winning.
Last year Phil Ivey didn't take part in the World Series of Poker because he thought it was unfair that many players couldn't afford to play after Full Tilt Poker and other poker sites were closed down on Black Friday. Even though Full Tilt Poker still hasn't paid back its players and Americans still can't play on most online poker sites, Phil Ivey still decided to make a comeback at the WSOP yesterday as he signed up for Event #2 $1,500 NLH.
But unfortunately the American pro didn't get the instant comeback success he had hoped for as he was knocked out by Maria Ho after just a few hours of play. Well, there are still many events to be played and lots of time for Phil Ivey to turn it into a successful comeback. It will be interesting to see how things turn out!
In the latest edition of the Weekly Rant, Daniel Negreanu talks about the upcoming 2012 World Series of Poker and changes that have been made, golf, what he thinks about ballerina shoes, Howard Lederer and Chris Ferguson, and more.
According to a report from iGaming Post, PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) have reached an agreement on paying back Full Tilt Poker players and the official repayment plan might be presented already at the end of this month.
Once the announcement has been made and the U.S. Department of Justice has approved it, both Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars should be able to apply for licenses within the U.S., when and if online poker is regulated in the future.
AGCC, Alderney Gaming Control Commission, has just announced that there will be a public hearing on May 3 as a result of Full Tilt's application for a new license. This is just one of many positive news regarding Full Tilt in the past few weeks.
On April 17, for example, some people claimed that were asked to upgrade from version 4.39.7 (Black Friday version) to 4.45.10 and accept revised terms and conditions when launching the poker client. Also, the system status on the website turned to green with the message "all system are currently operational".
According to several sources, the System Status on Full Tilt Poker's website turned to green yesterday with the message "all systems are currently operational". Apart from those signs of life, Malta Financial Services Registry of Companies has listed two companies registered on April 11, 2012, under the names Full Tilt holding LTD and New Full Tilt LTD.
However, it's not possible to access the Full Tilt Poker software yet. But some players claim that they were asked to upgrade from version 4.39.7 to 4.45.10 and accept revised terms an conditions when opening the poker client. Let's hope for some more good news soon.
Yesterday a new Weekly Rant with Daniel Negeranu was released. This week, Daniel discusses his trip to Ireland, more about the failure of Epic Poker League and Full Tilt Poker, the downsides with being a professional poker player, a new movie he's in, and more.
Just a few moments ago, Full Tilt Poker under Group Bernard Tapie, announced that all necessary paperwork has been signed and that Full Tilt Poker will be open from April 7th 2012, where users can register an account, or alternatively use their "old" login details.
But that is not all! According to a statement from Group Bernard Tapie, a couple of new "faces" for the site have just been signed;
"I'm very proud to announce that Lionel Messi and Tiger Woods will be working as Full Tilt Poker ambassadors from next Monday onwards, with the main purpose being to help players improve their game, take part in various tournaments (2012 WSOP among others), events and bounty-tournaments with the rest of the Pro Players."
Two Black Friday defendants have pleaded quality in the past few days. On Monday, it was reported that Chad Elie, a Las Vegas Businessman, pleaded guilty to conspiracy, a charge that will give him up to a year in prison.
Elie will also pay back the $500,000 he earned from processing online poker payments. Yesterday, Forbes reported that John Campos, the SunFirst Bank Vice Chariman, also has reached a plea agreement with federal prosecutors and will avoid a trial just like Chad Elie. However, it remains unclear what charges Campos will face.
Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu has posted a new video blog in which he discuses Ray Bitar's (the CEO of Full Tilt Poker) late apology to the poker world, Bay 101, Epic Poker League's failure, and other interesting and funny things that have happened in his life recently.
After almost a year of total silence, Full Tilt Poker's CEO Ray Bitar has finally let a news site interview him. In the interview, which was released yesterday, Bitar talks about, for example, how his life has drastically changed since last April (Black Friday) and why he the rest of Full Tilt's owners haven't made any statements. Below is the full interview with Ray Bitar:
Ray, there has been public outrage surrounding the fact that you have been silent since the Black Friday shutdown and indictments. Can you say why you haven't made any public statements?
After almost a year of total silence, Full Tilt Poker's CEO Ray Bitar has finally let a news site interview him. In the interview, which was released yesterday, Bitar talks about, for example, how his life has drastically changed since last April (Black Friday) and why he the rest of Full Tilt's owners haven't made any statements. Below is the full interview with Ray Bitar:
Ray, there has been public outrage surrounding the fact that you have been silent since the Black Friday shutdown and indictments. Can you say why you haven't made any public statements?
Ryan Lang, one of 11 men indicted by the U.S. Department of Justice on Black Friday, pleaded guilty to U.S. conspiracy charges on Tuesday in federal court in Manhattan, New York. From 2007 to 2010, Lang, 37, severed as a middleman between poker companies and brokers who tricked banks into processing money for the gambling businesses.
Lang apologized in court for the crime he has committed, which can give up to 30 years in prison.
"I wish to publically apologize to anyone I've harmed by my conduct," Lang said.
A few weeks ago, Doyle Brunson promised his followers on twitter that he would write his own thoughts on Black Friday and the Full Tilt scandal. Two days ago, just as promised, The Godfather of Poker posted a blog on the matter that has affected hundreds of thousands of players all over the globe.
Daniel Negreanu posted a video blog yesterday in which he talks about Full Tilt Poker and Black Friday, and some other stuff. It's not very often you see Negreanu pissed off, but when it comes to how Howard Lederer, Chris Ferguson and Ray Bitar have handled things after Black Friday, Negreanu doesn't hold back his anger.
Ira Rubin, a 53-year-old businessman in financial transactions, has in an agreement with a court in New York pleaded quilty to several crimes related to Black Friday (the day when FBI and DOJ closed down Full Tilt Poker, PokerStars etc).
According to the Department of Justice (DOJ), Rubin has deceived banks into transferring gaming funds so it wouldn't look like the money came from gambling. The potential max penalty for Rubin's crimes is 80 years in prison. But since he had some kind of agreement with the court, experts believe that he will get less than 2 years.
In the past few days, there has been a lot of talk and rumors regarding Phil Ivey and his ex-wife Luciaetta Ivey. The couple parted ways back in 2009 after some complications in court. Now, 2 years later, a new conflict has been brought to daylight. The newspaper Las Vegas Review-Journal writes that Luciaetta, through her lawyer, has handed in documents to Nevada Supreme Court where she claims that the Judge, Bill Gonzales (the man who handled their divorce case), was biased in their divorce since Phil Ivey gave Gonzales money to his personal campaign. In total, Phil Ivey should have donated $5-6k to Bill Gonzales in April 2010.
In an interview that was released last week Patrik Antonius spoke out about the Full Tilt scandal and the money he will lose if the poker site goes bankrupt.
"This one person made an attack on me, saying I had only $100 in my account. He was right but he's not right that I'm not a very big loser in this," Antonius told the poker magazine in Cannes on Day 4 of the WSOPE Main Event.
The person Antonius is referring to is Noah "NoahSD" Stephens-Davidowitz, and Antonius is very concerned how he got his account balance and why he's telling everyone about such a confidential information.
Two months after being back to federal custody, Isai Scheinberg, the founder of PokerStars, pled guilty in a New York federal court on March 25 Wednesday to running an illegal online poker site.
Seven years after the Black Friday, an event that shook the poker world with poker's big three (Full Tilt Poker, PokerStars, and Ultimate Bet) getting indicted, Chris Ferguson finally re-emerged issuing an apology for his role in it.
Beginning June 1, 2018, all apps that offer any type of poker will be banned in China. Playing and promoting poker on all forms of social media channels will be banned. Therefore, it is expected that the number of Chinese players at legal regional games will drop dramatically.
The 84-year-old Poker Hall of Famer says the Doyles Room poker site co-owner has ‘recurring nightmares about it.' The two-time WSOP Main Event champ is pretty much doing well for himself, but his poker bankroll could have been boosted up with a nine-figure profit if only he had said ‘yes' to a business offer proposed to him over a decade ago.
After six long years since the Black Friday devastated the online poker world, the scandal left by previous Full Tilt Poker owners still continues to rear its ugly head and make it to the news headlines this end of 2017.
Good news for the so-called victims of Absolute Poker, as a second round of payments for them had just been approved by the government.
It looks like that the co-founder of Absolute Poker Scott Tom had finally put an end to his long-running legal case with the U.S. government, and for sure the poker players who became victims of the fraudulent site will not be happy to know that he escaped with very little punishment.
Unfortunately for online poker fans, the New York State Assembly will not be passing a bill seeking to legalize online poker before the chamber adjourns on June 21, Wednesday.
There were mixed emotions when Chris Ferguson showed up last week at the World Series of Poker. Many of the players were not happy to see him returning. Nevertheless, there were some who urged him to come clean and tell his side over what happened at Full Tilt Poker.
On Wednesday, ex-Full Tilt Poker owner Howard Lederer released a statement via Daniel Negreanus's blog on Black Friday (April 15, 2011) when Full Tilt Poker (along with another 2 major poker sites) was closed down by the United States Department of Justice and thousands of players couldn't withdraw their funds for years to come. Negreanu's blog post in 
On Wednesday, Amaya announced that its PokerStars and Full Tilt brands (currently more than 95 million registered costomers combined) had been authorised to operate in New Jersey, USA. Both sites have been "offline" in the United States for more than four years after Black Friday, so this is definitely good news to many online poker enthusiast in the state of New Jersey, where 888, partypoker and two other sites currently operate. 
Gus Hansen has surpassed $20 million in all-time career losses after yet another disastrous week at Full Tilt Poker's nosebleed tables. Hansen has lost approximately $920k this month alone, bringing his losses this year to $5.5 million!
A big congratulations to Jesse McEuen, the winner of Event #47: $1,500 Ante Only NL Hold'em! McEuen bested a field of 714 players over three days of play to lay hands on his first gold coveted bracelet and $212,093 in prize money!
In the aftermath of Black Friday, Kristin Wilson saw a great opportunity and grabbed it. The native Floridian, ex pro surfer turned real-estate entrepreneur, embarked on a new adventure that would result in more or less constant travelling across the Americas and Europe - all in the name of online poker.
