Feds bust poker stud in online scam , Full Tilt Poker CFO

Betallsports · Jul 3, 2012

He’s gone all in.

The fugitive CEO of an online poker parlor was grabbed by the feds at Kennedy Airport yesterday after returning from Ireland to face a slew of criminal charges.
Ray Bitar, 40, is charged with violating Internet gambling laws and defrauding customers of FullTiltPoker.com of more than $430 million.

The site was one of three shut down by the FBI last year on a day that online gamblers have since dubbed “Black Friday.”
At the arraignment yesterday in Manhattan federal court, prosecutor Arlo Devlin-Brown said Bitar faced “decades” in the slammer if convicted.

Devlin-Brown said Bitar ran Full Tilt as “little more than a Ponzi scheme” — falsely assuring bettors that their money would be kept in “segregated accounts” — and personally reaped at least $40 million from the scam.

In a prepared statement, Bitar said: “I know a lot of people are very angry at me . . . I believe we are near the end of a very long road, and I will continue to do whatever is required to get the players repaid, and I hope that it will happen soon.”

Bitar was ordered held on $2.5 million bond after pleading not guilty, and is due back in court on Monday.

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/...ine_scam_7ToDgZ44W2XgR3fc3xnnbL#ixzz1zZBqr400

Akillies · Jul 3, 2012

throw away the key - please

Murphy8276 · Jul 3, 2012

I Doubt we will ever see a dime we are owed.. but I hope this guys gets what is coming to him.. quite a few poker pros screwed us too though.

-murph

Hotpizza · Jul 3, 2012

A lot of the story posted is missing, not that it matters but he surrendered himself to authorities, it was planned out by his attorney. More than likely they would have ultimately extradited him.

Only way I think anyone sees any money is if Stars buys it out at a distressed rate. Other than that, like Aces Gold the money is gone.

Betallsports · Jul 3, 2012

Full Tilt Poker chief arrested in N.Y.
Published: July 3, 2012 at 7:49 AM
NEW YORK, July 3 (UPI) -- Full Tilt Poker chief executive Raymond Bitar was arrested for allegedly running a multimillion-dollar Ponzi scheme, prosecutors in New York said.

Bitar was arrested Monday when his plane landed at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. The Wall Street Journal said the 40-year-old Los Angeles man has been living in Ireland while trying to negotiate a possible resolution to the charges that were filed against the Internet gaming company last year.

He pleaded not guilty Monday afternoon at a hearing in New York federal court.

Prosecutors say Full Tilt Poker, founded in 2004 by professional poker players, took in an estimated $1 billion from U.S. residents through April 15, 2011.

Bitar is the seventh of the 11 defendants charged in the original Internet poker indictment to have been arrested.

Bitar and the other defendants were charged last year with gambling, bank fraud and money laundering offenses. A superseding indictment unsealed Monday in federal court included the Ponzi allegations.

Prosecutors say Bitar allegedly promised players their funds would be protected in segregated accounts when the company actually used them to pay for Full Tilt operations and to pay Bitar and other owners more than $430 million.

As a result, the company was unable to pay the approximately $350 million it owed to players in the United States and other countries.

"With today's arrest and the new charges brought against him, Raymond Bitar will now be held criminally responsible for the alleged fraud he perpetrated on his U.S. customers that cost them hundreds of millions of dollars," U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said Monday in a statement.

Betallsports · Jul 3, 2012

Here's the one where it says he gave himself up

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/07/03/poker-fraud-arrest-idUKL2E8I2G3W20120703

CHOPTALK · Jul 3, 2012

Whats the deal with Ivey.
I heard him say he was not going to play in the WSOP then come to find out he played anyway.

Hotpizza · Jul 3, 2012

Last year he said he wasn't going to play in the WSOP until players were paid from FT. Guess he changed his mind this year. No signs of Howard Lederer.......if there was I think phyiscal harm would come to him.

ProPokerPlayer · Jul 3, 2012

Somehow this is supposed to be all part of a deal which will result in Stars buying FullTilt and repaying the players possibly in exchange for being able to do business in any U.S. opportunities that open up....

Akillies · Jul 3, 2012

Since unveiling the case, prosecutors have expanded both their civil and criminal charges against Full Tilt. They say it operates as a Ponzi scheme and paid its directors more than $440 million while defrauding players, even after the charges were filed." - from reuters

Akillies · Jul 3, 2012

Absolute Poker co-owner Brent Beckley pleaded guilty in December to conspiring to break U.S. laws against gambling on the Internet. He also pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and wire fraud. His sentencing is scheduled for July 23" - from reuters

Akillies · Jul 3, 2012

A U.S. judged sentenced a former bank executive on Wednesday to three months in prison for processing millions of dollars in illegal Internet poker proceeds.
John Campos, a one-time executive at the now-defunct SunFirst Bank of St. George, Utah, pleaded guilty in April to a misdemeanor charge under a plea agreement with federal prosecutors in Manhattan.
Campos, 58, is one of a dozen people charged in April 2011 along with the founders of Pokerstars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker. Prosecutors said the companies illegally circumvented a 2006 law that bars banks from processing payments made to offshore gambling websites.
- from reuters

WorldNumberOne · Jul 3, 2012

amazing that they had a license to print money and still found a way to fuck it up... a poker site simply ran the right way is a gold mine.

pocketrockets · Jul 3, 2012

pokerstars buying it out and paying the players would increase their chances (hugely) on entering the legal market once its available, not to mention all the good publicity they would get

SoCal · Jul 3, 2012

those thieving pricks did the equivalent of selling their soul. they lived like rock stars for a brief moment in time. Now it's time to pay the piper.

Defying · Jul 3, 2012

Akillies said:
A U.S. judged sentenced a former bank executive on Wednesday to three months in prison for processing millions of dollars in illegal Internet poker proceeds.
John Campos, a one-time executive at the now-defunct SunFirst Bank of St. George, Utah, pleaded guilty in April to a misdemeanor charge under a plea agreement with federal prosecutors in Manhattan.
Campos, 58, is one of a dozen people charged in April 2011 along with the founders of Pokerstars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker. Prosecutors said the companies illegally circumvented a 2006 law that bars banks from processing payments made to offshore gambling websites.
- from reuters

good to know they aren't crushing these guys

ProPokerPlayer · Jul 4, 2012

Bitar sent an email to the current office staff at Full Tilt telling them he was going to the u.s. to turn himself in and that they would be getting their paychecks for the month from Poker Stars and a sale would be imminent...He also said he would be arrested on Monday morning and be out Monday evening....i found that interesting...lol
But it does look like a bailout is on its way....
Now im wondering if its to late for FT to come after the people who owe THEM money on all those unprocessed deposits? i sure hope so!!!!

Jackson21 · Jul 4, 2012

pocketrockets said:
pokerstars buying it out and paying the players would increase their chances (hugely) on entering the legal market once its available

I can't imagine it having any effect whatsoever on Pstars chance of entering the legal market.

Any reasons for your statement?

pocketrockets · Jul 4, 2012

I heard it was a very important subject on their negotiations with the DOJ for the buy out

Akillies · Jul 4, 2012

SoCal said:
those thieving pricks did the equivalent of selling their soul. they lived like rock stars for a brief moment in time. Now it's time to pay the piper.

read the post above , the guy got 3 months