Last week, it was reported that negotiations between Groupe Bernard Tapie, Full Tilt Poker and the U.S. Attorneys Office, SDNY, had been formally terminated. It had been reported for months that the deal between the three would have allowed the forfeiture of assets of the FTP companies to the US DOJ, and the eventual resale of those assets to GBT, culminating in the (re)launch of the “New Full Tilt Poker” and the repayment or otherwise “making whole” of rest of world player’s account balances via the new site. We know now that that scenario is no longer a possibility.
The information that the “deal” had died was initially leaked by an anonymous poster on the twoplustwo poker forum, and once it picked up considerable interest and comments, Mr. Laurent Tapie, who had been the negotiator for GBT, issued a media release, published widely among the poker community, with his explanation of what happened and why. Included in that media release was Mr. Tapie’s statement:
“For that reason, unless a concrete and legally viable solution is found in the very coming days to save the employees and repay the players of FTP, we will move to our own plan of action.” Continue reading
