Home / Poker News November 2011 / Groupe Bernard Tapie Strikes Deal With DoJ
Groupe Bernard Tapie Strikes Deal With DoJ
Posted by: James Carter. - Wed, 2011-11-02 09:57
It’s been months now since we last heard of the acquisition deal signed by the French conglomerate Groupe Bernard Tapie and Full Tilt Poker, a prolonged hiatus punctuated by ominous rumors here and there that never failed to incite tension among players who have money stuck at the site. Despite all the negativity and the pessimistic speculations surrounding the deal, it now looks like we may finally be approaching a conclusion in the case, what’s more: this conclusion is heralded to be a favorable one for the players many of whom have by and large lost faith in ever seeing their FTP funds again.
According to some rather trustworthy sources, GBT has finally managed to strike a deal with the US DoJ, a deal on which the entire FTP takeover was hinging. The final details of the deal are only now being ironed out, but in principle, the parties seem to have reached an agreement.
It is now up to Full Tilt Poker’s shareholders to approve the sale, and GBT can go ahead with the acquisition of the companies that comprise FTP.
According to multiple sources, an email from Ray Bitar has already gone out to shareholders in which the FTP CEO fills everyone in on the latest developments. According to that email, GBT will pick up the tab for non-US players, reimbursing them in full. US players would then be repaid from the funds which the DoJ had seized from the company in the past.
The exact time frame and the actual repayment methods have not yet been hammered out.
Once the deal with the DoJ is finalized, GBT can move on to the next stage of the takeover: it can make a proposal to FTP’s shareholders. If that proposal is accepted and the sale proceeds, players can probably let out a huge sigh of relief, as that would pretty much guarantee their full reimbursement. The total sum in currently in limbo may be as much as $330 million.
