In regards to yesterday's news that Full Tilt Poker was running a giant "Ponzi Scheme", the American Gaming Association has snatched the oppotunity to make FTP an example as to the "evils" of online poker.
Yesterday, US Attorneys named 3 professional poker players as part of the scheme, in an amended complaint. They are Chris Ferguson, Howard Lederer and Rafael Furst. The admendment charges Full Tilt Poker wth running the ponzi scheme, where the company had no money to back their poker room and was using unsuspecting player's money to line their own pockets with.
"As the proposed amended complaint describes in detail, Full Tilt was not a legitimate poker company, but a global Ponzi scheme," Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement. "As a result of our enforcement actions this alleged self-dealing scheme came to light. Not only did the firm orchestrate a massive fraud against the U.S. banking system, as previously alleged, Full Tilt also cheated and abused its own players to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars. As described, Full Tilt insiders lined their own pockets with funds picked from the pockets of their most loyal customers while blithely lying to both players and the public alike about the safety and security of the money deposited with the company."
A video was released by the AGA yesterday that opened our eyes to the "evils" of online gambling, online poker more specifically. The title of the video is "Online Poker: The Wild West"
The AGA does want to see online poker in the USA legalized and at the same time wants to rid current online sites, that have the USA in their sights, from the US market.
For those of you who may not know, Full Tilt Poker was a previous sponsor of some poker on ESPN.
-- Edited by Mben on Wednesday 21st of September 2011 12:25:49 PM
