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Raymond Bitar founded Full Tilt Poker. He may be condemned to 145 years in jail. FBI said that he created a multimillion-dollar Ponzi scheme because he offered online poker games and he didn’t pay the winners the proper amounts.
The entrepreneur declared: “I returned voluntarily to the U.S. from Full Tilt's headquarters in Ireland to face the charges against me,” He added: “I know that a lot of people are very angry at me. I understand why. Full Tilt should never have gotten into a position where it could not repay player funds.
Basically, people played poker games and won prizes and they were not paid their gains. $430 million from the funds of the customers were placed in the bank accounts of the owners and only a fraction, about $60 million, were kept to pay the poker winners.
FBI says that the fraud was about $350 million. This is the amount that poker players around the world still have to get from the company.
Bitar, the 40 years old entrepreneur, is accused of running an illegal business, fraud and money laundering. He risks up to 145 years in prison.
The U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara declared: “With today's arrest and the new charges brought against him, Raymond Bitar will now be held criminally responsible for the alleged fraud he perpetrated on his U.S. customers that cost them hundreds of millions of dollars,”