Pokerstars, Full Tilt, UB.com, Absolute Poker seized by FBI

I'm seeing news that rakeback payments are being made by Full Tilt to the USA players along with converting various player rewards and tickets into cash.  These converted funds have been or are being paid into accounts. Still no movement on the withdrawal of funds for USA players yet though.

blue

still can't make withdraws on moneybookers from fulltilt me dutch anyone knows when withdraws r possible again?

still can't make withdraws on moneybookers from fulltilt me dutch anyone knows when withdraws r possible again?

No idea Jos but as you can see from my prev. post, they are quite busy crediting US accounts with rakeback and tourney dollars/tourney tickets at the moment. 

If I hear anything, I'll post it in here.

blue

Phil Ivey has filed an online lawsuit against FT for non payment of player money.

Check out the details in the Poker/Gambling News.

blue

Phil Ivey has filed an online lawsuit against FT for non payment of player money.

 

Check out the details in the Poker/Gambling News.

 

blue

Wow that impresses me!  Nice of him to do that.

medtrans

Phil Ivey has filed an online lawsuit against FT for non payment of player money.

 

Check out the details in the Poker/Gambling News.

 

blue

Did you get to view Full Tilts side of the story??? Very interesting to see how much of either sides story turns out to be the truth.....

Phil Ivey has filed an online lawsuit against FT for non payment of player money.

 

Check out the details in the Poker/Gambling News.

 

blue

 

Did you get to view Full Tilts side of the story??? Very interesting to see how much of either sides story turns out to be the truth.....

hmmmmmmm.

I guess it is inevitable really orren. 

blue

I read both sides and it will be interesting to see where it goes from here.Two completely different stories of course :P

I wasn't aware that US deposits were not being taken from US bank accounts at Full Tilt - did this happen to anybody?

"From around September 2010 to February 2011 Full Tilt Poker was accepting player deposits and crediting the amounts to their Full Tilt accounts, but not drawing the funds from the players' bank accounts, thus giving its players funds to use on its site for nothing.

This was first reported by players, but the practice was confirmed when one of the Black Friday indictees, Bradley Franzen, pleaded guilty, and the enforcement authorities issued a press release, stating that "....Franzen admitted that in early 2011 he had been asked to help Full Tilt Poker deal with a $60 million shortfall created by the company’s inability to find a payment processor to process transactions involving U.S. player accounts. The company was facing the shortfall because it continued to credit funds to player accounts despite being unable to actually debit (or”pull”) funds from customers."

Then, around March 2011, Full Tilt emailed thousands of players, advising them that due to processing delays their deposits had been credited to their FT accounts to allow them to play, but that these deposits were not actually recovered from their bank accounts, so that they were now going to do so, and that players should ensure that funds were available in their bank account. This caused various reactions, from belief that it was a scam to thinking that it was a mistake; but some even "...changed their bank account details, reversed the transactions, or emptied their bank accounts before Full Tilt was able to remove the funds. Others thought that they had been hacked when they saw the money removed from their bank accounts."

Therefore, a complete mayhem was created for Full Tilt in terms of administrative procedures, which required the involvement of other departments within the company to deal with the sheer volume of correspondence. In addition, the recovery of the funds was rather unsuccessful, with only 70 percent of recovery attempts being fruitful."

This is quite unbelievable that they would do that.

blue

Holy Crap, Batman, that's quite a hole they dug for themselves there!  :`o

WOW !! :`o That doesn't sound good at all :o :o

That is just crazy! Why would they keep doing that for so long? Everybody else out there just drops US players like hot potatoes and run for the hills... *-* :o

I think that is just a friggin load of crap!

I mean come on now yo! Am I really supposed to believe that they did not take money from players bank accounts, still credited the poker accounts and then if or when they won, they would still payout???

Free money and if you did not take a bonus, no wagering req's??? Seems to me that they just got caught with their pants down getting part of their accts seized and a major part of depositors cut off. I mean I can not begin to imagine what they could possibly blow that much money on, but it's obviously not where it was supposed to be.

Would not be the least bit surprised to here that Full Tilt folds, sooner than later yo.

It's incredible to think that they would do that - it makes no business sense whatsoever.  It was an expensive way to say "USA OK".

blue

Has anyone heard the latest news that Full Tilt has been deprived of its Alderney license? Supposedly, they need to cease all operations immediately! :(

Im not surprised Cat at all.  You could see it coming when it transpired about them "giving" money without taking it from USA bank accounts.  How much "underhandedness" that was going on here is yet to transpire I think.

blue

got a mail that moneybookers dont do busnises anymore with ft can't get on site any 1 else same probs?

got a mail that moneybookers dont do busnises anymore with ft can't get on site any 1 else same probs?

 

Yes Jos - no go for me either.  Moneybookers have pulled their services completely.

blue

That is such an unpleasant action it seems...

Moneybookers has been one of the biggest company and I understood they pulled out of US but why completely gone cold turkey...all because of what's been going on...

Update 18:27 - BREAKING NEWS - Fulltilt Poker License suspended

Tags: Alderney Gambling Control Commission, Black Friday, DOJ, Full Tilt Poker, Full tilt Poker down, License, PokerStars.

Posted on Wednesday, June 29, 2011 by "A".

Full Tilt Poker license suspendedEarlier today the following statement was issued by the Alderney Gambling Control Commission:

"Alderney Gambling Control Commission (AGCC) has today issued Hearing Notices under Regulation 46 of its Regulations to Vantage Ltd. Oxalic Ltd, Filco Ltd and Orinic Ltd, collectively trading as FULL TILT POKER.

In addtion, AGCC has issued Suspension Notices under Regulation 47 to the above named companies requiring them to suspend all operations with immediate effect.

The decision to suspend these licenses follows a special investigation prompted by the indictments unsealed by US Attorney General's Office in the Southern District of New York on 15th April 2011, during which grounds were found to indicate that these licensees and their business associates were operating contrary to Alderney legislation. The nature of the findings necessitated the taking of immediate action in the public interest.

The venue and date for the hearing will be announced in due course.

Issued by: André Wilsenach (Executive Director), Alderney Gambling Control Commission, Alderney, Channel Islands.

Date issued: 29th June 2011"

Currently all tournaments on FULL TILT POKER is paused and no one can login to the software. In addition their website is stating "Scheduled Maintenance in Progress, The system is currently down for maintenance, please check back soon!"

More info when the story develops.

Part of the statement from AGCC says "Due to the nature of the forthcoming judicial proceedings no further comment can be made at this time. The regulatory hearing will be held on Tuesday 26 July 2011 in London."

Clearly a lot of this is to do with their US deposit "carry on" and with the indictments from DoJ, I also think there is a lot more to all of this than meets the eye.

I guess we will know more at the end of July however, I hope FT will make some sort of statement.

I'm struggling to find out what regulations 46 and 47 are of the AGCC.  Can anyone find anything?

blue

They don't make this stuff easy to find, but here they are:

46. (1) Where the Chief Executive Officer believes that ¡ª

(a) a ground referred to in section 12(1) of the Ordinance exists; and

(b) the circumstances are such that it is necessary to convene a hearing of the Commissioners at which the eGambling licensee shall be given the opportunity of making representations in response,

he shall give to the eGambling licensee a notice in writing (a ¨Dhearing notice¡¬) which shall explain that the Chief Executive Officer is recommending to the Commission that it should impose a financial penalty or suspend or revoke the eGambling licence and set out the Chief Executive Officer¡¯s reasons for convening the hearing.

(2) Where the Chief Executive Officer believes that a rectification notice has not been fully complied with, he shall give to the eGambling licensee a hearing notice which shall explain that the Chief Executive Officer is recommending to the Commission that it should impose a financial penalty or suspend or revoke the eGambling licence and set out the Chief Executive Officer¡¯s reasons for convening the hearing.

(3) A hearing notice shall give at least seven days¡¯ notice of the hearing to the eGambling licensee and appoint a date, time and place for the hearing.

(4) An eGambling licensee may elect not to attend the hearing convened by the hearing notice and confine its representations to any it wishes to make in writing to the Commission prior to the date of the hearing.

Immediate suspension.

47. (1) At the same time as giving a hearing notice, the Chief Executive Officer may, with the approval of at least one Commissioner, suspend an eGambling licence under this regulation if he is satisfied on reasonable grounds that ¡ª

(a) a ground referred to in section 12(1) of the Ordinance exists;

(b) the seriousness and urgency of the matter requires that immediate action be taken ahead of a regulatory hearing;

© the seriousness and urgency of the matter do not permit the taking of action by way of a rectification proposal; and

(d) the circumstances require that the eGambling licence be suspended to ensure that ¡ª

(i) the public interest is not affected in an adverse and material way; or

(ii) the integrity of the eGambling licensee¡¯s operation is not jeopardised in any way.

(2) A suspension under this regulation ¡ª

(a) shall be effected by written notice given to the eGambling licensee (a ¨Dsuspension notice¡¬);

Regulation 48. Alderney eGambling Regulations 2009

Page 48

(b) takes effect immediately when the suspension notice is given; and

© is effective until ¡ª

(i) the Commissioners have reached a determination at the conclusion of the hearing convened in accordance with regulation 46; or

(ii) it is cancelled by notice in writing of the Chief Executive Officer in accordance with regulation 48.

Thank you for that Katt - much appreciated.  I think we need to know what Regulation 12(1) is too

...here is regulation 12(1)

The Commission may take action under this section where -

(a)  an eGambling licensee or certificate holder is no longer a fit and proper person to hold the eGambling license or certificate in question;

(b)  an associate of an eGambling licensee or a certificate holder is not, or is no longer, a fit and proper person to be associated with the operation of the licensee or certificate holder;

©  an eGambling licensee or a certificate holder has contravened

(i)        a provision of this Ordinance or of regulations made under this Ordinance; or

(ii)        a condition attached to the eGambling license or certificate in question; or

(d)  a Temporary eGambling licensee is no longer licensed or properly licensed in another jurisdiction to conduct eGambling operations.

Basically Full Tilt are no longer a fit and proper person to hold an egambling license and I wonder if they thought about that during their US deposit shenanigans.  I'm sure they didn't.

Thanks again Katt for finding thos regs.

blue

hi there, first time here.

i didn´t find anything else about fulltilt, so i use this thread:

does anyone of you have money locked up?

do you have a poll or something like that?

i´m trying to find out, how many people are actually affected by this.

thanks in advance :)

Hi Grumpy and welcome to the forum.  Love your username by the way.

Yes - I have cash locked in FT and I'm sure I'm definitely not alone.

I'd be happy to start a poll - it would be interesting to see how many hits/votes it gets.

blue

thanks for the warm welcome, as global mod you should be able to start a poll, right? just do it, do it! :P

btw: post the link in this thread plz after you opened it :)

It is done Grumpy.

You can see it by clicking HERE.

blue

*le click*