Laurent Tapie, the Managing Director of Groupe Bernard Tapie, has given an interview regarding the chances of finally completing the acquistion of Full Tilt Poker. Tapie told iGaming France that he hoped that the deal would be finalized by the end of this month so that things could ultimately start moving forward and Full Tilt Poker players could start receiving their funds which have been held since last April.
Tapie confirmed that the Department of Justice had validated the agreement, which will see the beleagured online poker room sold to the investment group for $80 million and fully reinstated with the Alderney Gambling Control Commission. He said that the due diligence process had been almost fully completed and, “unless there are last minute surprises,” we should finally see the agreement finalized by the end of February.
Earlier this week, a US Federal judge dismissed a case brought against Full Tilt Poker by four poker professionals, including Steve Segal and Todd Terry. The four claimed that Full Tilt player had been denied access to their funds and, since the online poker allegedly committed crimes which consisted of bank fraud and racketeering, players should be paid out triple what was owed to them. The judge dismissed these claims, stating that it wasn’t possible to determine the exact reason why players weren’t paid out and whether it was the fault of the Department of Justice, the individual defendants listed in the class action case (such as Howard Lederer and Phil Ivey) or the groups listed (such as Pocket Kings Ltd. and Tiltware).
“The mere fact that Full Tilt Poker customers maintained player accounts on the website that they subsequently could not access is therefore insufficient to establish a conversion claim against these defendants,” said the judge in his ruling. “Nor have plaintiffs alleged any additional facts, demonstrating that either company exercised control over the player accounts, or played any role in the decision to prevent Full Tilt Poker customers from withdrawing the money in their accounts.”
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