This is the part a lot of people just don't understand. There are lots of people complaining "When am I going to get my money back!". But they're missing the truth. There is no money. Full Tilt spent it, faked it, never had much of it. It's like the settlement for the Bernie Madoff scheme. You can't claim the peak balance on the fraudulent statement because that money never existed.
"But don't let that get in the way of your snarky libertarianism." --Snark pot, meet snark kettle.
The most amusing thing in the fraud complaint is what the US Govt alleges as the cause: The US Govt's regulations regarding money transfer into gambling sites.
So yes, job well done, US Govt. Job well done.
"The Amended Complaint further alleges that, in or about
the summer of 2010, Full Tilt Poker’s payment processing channels were so disrupted that the company faced increasing difficulty attempting to collect funds from players in the United States. Rather than disclose this fact, Full Tilt Poker simply credited players’ online gambling accounts with money that had never actually been collected from the players’ bank accounts."
It's somehow the government's fault that the owners of FT were paying themselves literally hundreds of millions of dollars out of player accounts?
Pokerstars was subject to the same laws, yet they had fully segregated accounts and could pay everyone 100% of their account balance.
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According to a balance sheet prepared by Full Tilt Poker, as of March 31, 2011, Full Tilt Poker owed players from around the world over approximately $390,695,788 but had only approximately $59,579,413 in its bank accounts. Full Tilt Poker relied on new deposits from players to ensure its ability to fund withdrawals to players’ accounts.
Rather than protect player funds as promised, Full Tilt Poker distributed hundreds of millions of dollars to its owners…
Defendant Lederer personally received at least approximately $42 million, including approximately $37,856,010.92 in ownership distributions and at least $4 million in “profit sharing” payments…
Defendant Ferguson was allocated approximately $85,161,305.88 in distributions. Tiltware records reflect that approximately $25 million of this sum was actually transferred to Ferguson’s personal accounts, with the remaining balance characterized as “owed” to Ferguson.
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Should internet gambling be illegal? Probably not.
Was it illegal when FT was operating? Definitely.
Is that somehow an excuse to engage in massive fraud?
"The Amended Complaint further alleges that, in or about the summer of 2010, Full Tilt Poker’s payment processing channels were so disrupted that the company faced increasing difficulty attempting to collect funds from players in the United States. Rather than disclose this fact, Full Tilt Poker simply credited players’ online gambling accounts with money that had never actually been collected from the players’ bank accounts."
Blaming the Federal Government for shutting down a Ponzi scheme before you "got yours" at the expense of some downline? You're deluded, incredibly dishonest, or both.
But don't let that get in the way of your snarky libertarianism.
[1] http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2011/09/20/full-tilt-p... [2] http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142412788732405030457841...