Published on
Update on
Author

FTP has been quietly brought to its bitter end after the settlement in a lawsuit involving four former customers. Once upon a time, Full Tilt was a top online poker site.

The poker players Nick Hammer, Bradley Clasen, Robin Houghdahl, Steve Segal and Todd Terry came to an agreement with former FPT executives for an undisclosed amount sometime late in 2015, after which on January 6, 2016 the terms were finally approved.

Until recently the deal wasn’t released to the public as it was made behind closed doors. An amount of $450 million was what the plaintiffs were originally seeking for.

Since Black Friday in April 2011, FTP hasn’t done business in the United States. The Department of Justice shuw the site ran by Rafe Furst, Ray Bitar, Chris Ferguson and Howard Lederer down and charged it with several criminal charges and lawsuits.

They all received plenty of public backlash, even though no of the executives has received any prison sentence. Due to a shortage in reserve funds the customers were unable to get paid out after the site got shut down. Multi-Million dollar bonuses were however taken by the above mentioned executives.

To avoid court fees discussions between Full Tilt Poker and the plaintiffs were started last year, according to reports.

What  Happens Now?

The four high-profile executives of FTP mostly stayed remained out of the spotlight since Black Friday. Thanks to an alleged serious health condition, Ray Bitar for example avoided serious jail time for his role in Full Tilt Poker’s scandal. When pictures of is seven-figure wedding faced the light around the internet last year, Ray Bitar resurfaced in the spotlight as well.

In his first public interview in 2012, Howard Lederer refused to take any responsibility or offer any apology. However, through Daniel Negreanu, the Professor released some form of apology in which he owned up to his mistakes, which he did prior to the start of the 2016 World Series of Poker. Lederer was not welcomed back with open arms when he returned to the poker tables for the first time since 2010 to compete in WSOP cash events.

‘Chris ‘Jesus’ Ferguson also reentered the poker world this summer but refused to offer up an apology. He had a successful summer, cashing in 10 WSOP events. When pressed for an interview, Ferguson responded with, ‘I’m just here to play poker’, or completely avoided the reporter.’

Biggest Part of Players Paid Off

Following Black Friday the players had to be paid by FPT and this was the biggest issue. Despite its owners taking millions of dollars in bonuses, the company didn’t have enough in reserved to pay the customers.

Before receiving a dime years went by for many FPT players. After public outrage, money is now received by the majority of players. The international sites has now been merged together after PokerStars took ownership over Full Tilt Poker.

 

    Tags: