Final Terms of Forfeiture Agreement Discussed by DoJ and Full Tilt Poker
Last week, the owners of the online poker room Full Tilt discussed the final terms of its forfeiture agreement with the US Department of Justice. Based on the agreement, Groupe Bernard Tapie will be allowed to spend the $80 million initially signed on, to invest in the poker room. With this amount, the group will be able to purchase Full Tilt Poker from the Department of Justice.
Tapie Plans to Re-launch Poker Room Soon
According to Laurent Tapie, the managing director of the group running investment companies, this is just one of the many steps that are to be taken to ensure the poker deal goes through successfully. During the initial stages of the takeover deal, Tapie planned to re-brand the poker room and re-launch it by the first of March. Currently the poker room is negotiating with the authority that revoked Full Tilt’s license when it was indicted last year for misleading officials about its financial situation.
Tapie stated that reactivating the license will require the company to carry out due diligence. Since an agreement was reached between Groupe Bernard Tapie and Full Tilt, the sale of the online poker room has slowed down. In December, the shareholders of the poker room agreed to forfeit assets to allow the group to buy the company. Based on the agreement, the Department of Justice will initially take over the assets which will then be purchased by the group.
$150 Million Owed to Full Tilt Poker Players
GBT will have to pay Full Tilt Poker players based outside the US. Players residing in the US will get paid by the Department of Justice. Each set of players will have to be paid approximately $150 million. Based on the agreement, civil forfeiture proceedings filed against the online poker room will be dismissed.
This will eliminate the liability on Full Tilt’s shareholders. However, it will not affect the shareholders indicted on Black Friday in association with Full Tilt. like Ray Bitar, Chris Ferguson and Howard Lederer were among them. They have been given time until 19th March to respond to Preet Bharara’s amended civil complaint. This is the third extension that has been granted to the accused since September last year.
A few months prior to that, Full Tilt faced a class action complaint made at the District Court of New York. The complaint was recently dismissed by Lenard Sand, the US district judge. This was because it was unclear whether the blocking of player withdrawals or the seizure of the company was the cause for the complaint.