The months – years, in some cases – were interesting, to say the least. It was business as usual for PokerStars. They cashed out American players within the first couple of weeks following their indictment. And they were the only ones.
A couple of months after the indictment, the parent company to Ultimate Bet and Absolute Poker, Blanca Gaming, released a statement saying they were going to file bankruptcy, and a days later they laid off their pros representatives.
Full Tilt Poker said in a statement there wasn’t a legal payment channel for them to use for cash outs, and that they had no accounting of the millions taken by the DOJ.
This didn’t go over well with players …or the US Government. It sparked multiple investigations that led the Alderney Gambling Control Commission to suspend their license on June 29th, 2011. No one was able to play on FTP after that.
Then news broke that Full Tilt was seeking investors so they could pay back players (as much as $150 million).
Shortly after more news broke saying the US Government was claiming Full Tilt was a ponzi scheme because several members of the company (including Chris Ferguson and Howard Lederer) received hundreds of millions – more than $440 million – since 2007. MORE than enough to pay players back.
This turned into an ordeal outside of the Black Friday indictments. Both Howard Lederer and Chris Fergus had civil suits to deal with that resulted in them giving up millions in profit sharing revenue, properties, vehicles and bank accounts. They both managed to avoid jail sentences, and Isai Scheinberg did initially as well — in 2020, Scheinberg surrendered to New York authorities, and pled not guilty to his charge of operating an illegal gambling business.
On 12/20/2011, Absolute Poker co-founder Brent Buckly pled guilty to misleading banks, setting himself up for a 12-18 month prison sentence. He ultimately was sentenced to 14 months.
Ira Rubin entered a plea agreement, pleading guilty to 3 of 9 counts of conspiracy to commit bank fraud. He’s expected to serve 18-24 months.
John Campos was hit with a single misdemeanor and Chad Elie pled guilty to conspiring to commit bank fraud and for operating an illegal gambling business.
In April 2013, Ray Bitar reached a deal to plead guilty to criminal charges. He was sentenced to time served and was ordered to give up his assets which included various homes and $40 million. Bitar received a light sentence since he’s a Class IV heart transplant candidate — he was facing 65 years in prison.
