Howard Lederer Scam
Howard Lederer, Chris Ferguson and Rafe Furst all settled their respective civil cases with the U.S. Government without admitting to any wrong doing. Bitar was on the hook for criminal charges as. Diamond Flush Distortion of the Truth: Bill Rini Blog: QuadJac. A “global ponzi scheme” is what lawyers for the United States Government called Full Tilt, in court documents, in which the U.S. Filed a civil suit against Chris Ferguson, along with other Full Tilt co-founders, Howard Lederer, Ray Bitar, and Rafe Furst. Ferguson had a 20% stake in Full Tilt, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Just over five months later, a number of high-ranking FullTilt figures—including Howard Lederer and Chris Ferguson—were accused by the Department of Justice of cheating customers out of more than $300 million. During this period, the site’s gaming license was revoked. FREE Background Report. Check Reputation Score for Howard Lederer in Marysville, WA - View Criminal & Court Records Photos Address, Email & Phone Number Personal Review $80.
07:0124 Apr
Mike Matusow has spilled the beans on what he says really happened at Full Tilt Poker in the run up to Black Friday. Infamously, on April 15th 2011, players logged into their accounts only to find that the domain had been seized by the FBI, along with all the money in the accounts.
Matusow has recently kicked off a new podcast he named “The Mouthpiece”, and in the first episode we hear exactly what his role at the company was like. As a sponsored red pro he lined up alongside star names such as Phil Ivey and Tom “durrrr” Dwan, and earned more than $600,000 per year.
When the fateful day came, now almost eight years ago, Matusow was under the impression that everything would be sorted out and all players would receive what was owed. He actually thought the company was rolling in it still.
Following the scandal Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, Howard Lederer, and CEO Ray Bitar were all castigated for their roles in players getting ripped off. But in Matusow’s opinion though, Ferguson did nothing wrong apart from consenting to the wrong guys running a business where he was the majority shareholder. In other words, Lederer and Bitar were all to blame.
While Matusow certainly is a character that is well known around the scene and gets to hear a lot of what comes down the grapevine, we can’t take this as any kind of confirmation. It’s also highly suspect that after all these years Ferguson is yet to make any kind of complete explanation. When he reappeared on the live circuit a couple of years ago we thought the whole story might come out but it never did.
Hopefully Matusow will be pressed to give us more on what went on behind the scenes at Full Tilt Poker before the dream ended.
Daniel Negreanu’s vitriol directed at former Full Tilt Poker owner Howard Lederer was back in action Sunday morning. Negreanu expressed sentiment that has been at times visible in cyberspace since the Department of Justice called Full Tilt a “global Ponzi scheme” last year.
Right after citing a Pokerfuse article that highlighted an apparent inconsistency in Lederer’s recent interview statements, Negreanu remarked publicly to his 202,000 followers:
The more research you do, the more obvious it becomes that justice will only be served if Howard Lederer goes to prison.
— Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker) October 14, 2012
While Lederer, Chris Ferguson and Rafe Furst face civil litigation from the government, Ray Bitar, the former CEO of the firm, faces the possibility of life in prison if convicted of the charges against him. The first three men are accused of being involved with the fraud and could forfeit millions to the DoJ, but they aren’t looking at any possible jail time for their alleged roles.
Howard Lederer Scam Emails
In September 2011, Card Player asked Dr. Henry Pontell, a white-collar crime expert at the University of California, Irvine, about accused Ponzi schemers not facing criminal charges.
“I’ve never heard of a ‘non-criminal Ponzi scheme’ before, but that doesn’t mean that it couldn’t possibly exist,” Pontell said. “Civil charges may be filed where there’s not enough evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt. Ponzi is a descriptive and pejorative term, but it’s really about a specific charge for fraud — criminal or civil.”
Howard Lederer 2014 Arrested
The complaint implicating Lederer was amended last month, as the government detailed where it says player money went. Prosecutors also tacked on more accusations of unlawful activity perpetrated by Lederer. He could lose his multimillion-dollar Las Vegas mansion, one of a handful of his properties purchased with alleged-fraud money.
Altogether, Lederer is potentially on the hook for about $42.5 million worth of assets that the feds say are “traceable” to illegal activities in running Full Tilt.
According to a court document, attorneys for Lederer, Ferguson and Furst plan to seek dismissal of the government’s most recent amended complaint against them. The defendants have until Nov. 16, 2012 to file the motion. Prosecutors have until Dec. 21 to reply, and then the defendants have a deadline of Jan. 11, 2013 to respond.
Negreanu’s Tweet sparked more than 40 Retweets and garnered a handful of responses, one of which was from poker pro Todd Terry, who is part of a class-action lawsuit filed this spring.
@toddbterry so much evidence against him I think it will happen at some point. He incriminates himself in Lederer Files its just bizarre.
— Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker) October 14, 2012
Howard Lederer Jail
Card Player followed up with Terry, a former criminal defense attorney in New York City.
“It’s apparent that the [United States Attorneys’ Office] has made a decision, for whatever reason, not to indict Howard,” Terry said. “He could have been indicted on Black Friday and when they filed the amended civil complaint. It’s possible that his hubris filled [public relations] campaign will cause them to change their minds.”
“It’s also possible that one day Ray will start cooperating and give the feds evidence against him that they can’t ignore,” Terry added.
Despite the civil case and continued outcry from the poker community, Lederer returned to the poker tables this past week. He has been playing high-stakes poker with some of the players that the company once used to market and promote its brand.
Howard Lederer Scam Email
Lederer has not been found responsible in a court of law for Full Tilt’s insolvency or failure to repay players after it was shutdown in American cyberspace on Black Friday.
While players outside the U.S. will be reunited with their money thanks to a bailout from PokerStars, American victims are still waiting to hear from the DoJ on how they can ask for compensation. The DoJ did not return Card Player’s request for an update this week.
Follow Brian Pempus on Twitter — @brianpempus