Poker players around the world owed hundreds of millions of dolars by Full Tilt got some welcome news today, with reports surfacing that Groupe Bernard Tapie had reached a deal with the US Department of Justice to buy Full Tilt for $80 million.
The deal would involve Full Tilt first agreeing to forfeit all assets to te US government, which would in turn sell them to Groupe Bernard Tapie for $80 million; the DoJ would then be responsible for refunding the approximately $150 million owed to US players with Groupe Bernard Tapie responsible for refunding international players.
Full Tilt shareholders must still agree to the deal before it can proceed. While the DoJ would drop civil complaints against the Full Tilt corporate entities involved it would still be able to pursue civil charges it has filed against the likes of Ray Bitar, Chris Ferguson, Rafe Furst, and Howard Lederer.
The implosion of Full Tilt has been unfolding since last April when it was indicted along with PokerStars by the DoJ; while PokerStars quickly refunded players and moved ahead, Full Tilt’s desperate fiscal situation and gross mismanagement led to its fire sale of assets to Groupe Bernard Tapie.
