Home / Poker News September 2011 / Full Tilt Attorney Reacts to Ponzi Accusations
Full Tilt Attorney Reacts to Ponzi Accusations
Posted by: Randy Williams - Thu, 2011-09-22 09:56
Full Tilt Poker’s already tarnished image took a nasty hit the other day, when US Attorney Preet Bharara, the same official responsible for the Black Friday indictments, characterized the operation as a “global Ponzi scheme” in light of the new evidence that had emerged about owners and board members sticking their hands elbow-deep into the player-deposits cookie-jar.
Today, the poker room reacted through attorney Jeff Ifrah, a lawyer based in Washington DC who represents the interests of the site and who has released several statements regarding Full Tilt’s woes in the past.
Ifrah said that he strongly disagreed with the coining of the operation as a Ponzi scheme. He admitted that the entities behind the site may have committed mistakes, but they never intended to take advantage of player funds the way investigators have suggested.
Full Tilt’s attempts to distance itself from anything with “Ponzi” in its name, is understandable. Ever since Bernie Madoff’s financial machinations have successfully re-introduced the term into the everyday vocabulary, the Ponzi-scheme has become associated with the most devastating of financial crimes.
In the case of such Ponzi-schemes, investigators will often place a bigger importance on the recovery of the funds involved, thus the pressing of criminal charges is often delayed. That would explain why prosecutors have not yet added separate criminal indictments to the charges on Tuesday.
According to the prosecutors, locating and eventually recovering the funds enjoyed top priority because many of the defendants have deposited their monies in offshore banks in Switzerland and The Isle of Man.
The fact that
Full Tilt Poker continued to operate outside the US even after the April indictments is something that weighs heavily in the balance from the prosecutors’ perspective, as it is clear that Full Tilt officials already knew they didn’t have the funds to repay their players then, yet continued their activity seemingly undisturbed.
The latest civil charges do not mean criminal charges won’t be filed at a later date.
