Yahoo Finance earlier reported that French investment team Groupe Bernard Tapie’s acquisition agreement with Full Tilt Poker has been finalized. Full Tilt Poker later confirmed the developments in an official statement on PokerStrategy.com
The acquisition of Full Tilt Poker by GBT reportedly cost the investors $80 million. Interestingly enough, the United States Department of Justice actually brokered the deal as Full Tilt was forced to forfeit all of its assets to the DOJ, who turned around and sold the company to the Tapie team.
Most supposed that any deal that would be approved by the Department of Justice would include a stipulation forcing to payback US players. The DOJ, however, has mandated that Groupe Bernard Tapie payback players worldwide, while the DOJ will facilitate the repayment of US player debts with its seized assets. Full Tilt Poker owes customers worldwide an estimated $390 Million, around half of which are debts to US players. Players looking for compensation will have to apply to the DOJ.
Here’s the official statement from Full Tilt Poker:
“Full Tilt Poker is pleased that the terms of the agreement between Groupe Bernard Tapie (GBT) and the Department of Justice have been finalized, and that the agreement provides for GBT to repay or make whole players outside of the United States and for the Department of Justice to permit United States players to request compensation out of the forfeited funds. Since Black Friday, repaying customers has been FTP’s number one priority.
Ray Bitar, co-Founder of Full Tilt Poker stated:
“I am extremely pleased with the efforts of the Department of Justice, and the Groupe Bernard Tapie corporation, and appreciate their continued dedication in working towards a mutually beneficial agreement that will facilitate repayment of the players ."
Now that the agreement with DOJ has been reached, GBT and Full Tilt Poker will now turn to memorializing the final terms of their agreement, to bring this matter to a complete resolution as soon as possible.
Full Tilt Poker would like to thank all its customers for their continued patience since Black Friday and during this negotiation process.”
A lawyer representing Groupe Bernard Tapie has further corroborated the story, saying that “"A letter of agreement with the DOJ has been executed. It states that in the event that the Full Tilt companies consent to a forfeiture of their assets, GBT will purchase those assets. This is the first major step in the process of a sale; the next steps include Full Tilt consenting to the forfeiture and a definitive final agreement with the DOJ."
Full Tilt’s lawyer, Jeff Irah, also commented on the acquisition, “The deal is clearly historic. It's an incredible achievement. A lot of thanks and gratitude are owed to both GBT and the DOJ. Clearly there remain a lot of questions on the logistics of a sale, including when players will get paid, how they'll file claims, and when Full Tilt will become operational. I hope I can help obtain answers to those questions quickly, and make information available to players as soon as possible."
We’ll have more at GosuGamers as this story develops.
The acquisition of Full Tilt Poker by GBT reportedly cost the investors $80 million. Interestingly enough, the United States Department of Justice actually brokered the deal as Full Tilt was forced to forfeit all of its assets to the DOJ, who turned around and sold the company to the Tapie team.
Most supposed that any deal that would be approved by the Department of Justice would include a stipulation forcing to payback US players. The DOJ, however, has mandated that Groupe Bernard Tapie payback players worldwide, while the DOJ will facilitate the repayment of US player debts with its seized assets. Full Tilt Poker owes customers worldwide an estimated $390 Million, around half of which are debts to US players. Players looking for compensation will have to apply to the DOJ.
Here’s the official statement from Full Tilt Poker:
“Full Tilt Poker is pleased that the terms of the agreement between Groupe Bernard Tapie (GBT) and the Department of Justice have been finalized, and that the agreement provides for GBT to repay or make whole players outside of the United States and for the Department of Justice to permit United States players to request compensation out of the forfeited funds. Since Black Friday, repaying customers has been FTP’s number one priority.
Ray Bitar, co-Founder of Full Tilt Poker stated:
“I am extremely pleased with the efforts of the Department of Justice, and the Groupe Bernard Tapie corporation, and appreciate their continued dedication in working towards a mutually beneficial agreement that will facilitate repayment of the players ."
Now that the agreement with DOJ has been reached, GBT and Full Tilt Poker will now turn to memorializing the final terms of their agreement, to bring this matter to a complete resolution as soon as possible.
Full Tilt Poker would like to thank all its customers for their continued patience since Black Friday and during this negotiation process.”
A lawyer representing Groupe Bernard Tapie has further corroborated the story, saying that “"A letter of agreement with the DOJ has been executed. It states that in the event that the Full Tilt companies consent to a forfeiture of their assets, GBT will purchase those assets. This is the first major step in the process of a sale; the next steps include Full Tilt consenting to the forfeiture and a definitive final agreement with the DOJ."
Full Tilt’s lawyer, Jeff Irah, also commented on the acquisition, “The deal is clearly historic. It's an incredible achievement. A lot of thanks and gratitude are owed to both GBT and the DOJ. Clearly there remain a lot of questions on the logistics of a sale, including when players will get paid, how they'll file claims, and when Full Tilt will become operational. I hope I can help obtain answers to those questions quickly, and make information available to players as soon as possible."
We’ll have more at GosuGamers as this story develops.
