Full Tilt Poker CEO Ray Bitar (pictured) will soon be on his way home to California. According to a multiple reports, a Federal judge gave his okay to a bail package for Bitar that will allow him to stay out of prison while the U.S. Government’s case against him proceeds.Bitar’s path toward house arrest and electronic monitoring began last week, not long after he surrendered to U.S. authorities. According to Diamond Flush Poker, Bitar pleaded not guilty to all charges against him, including those in the original Black Friday indictment and the superseding indictment that was unsealed when he turned himself in on July 2.
Friends and family were present to help post the $250,000 bail, but Government attorneys argued that Bitar should not be freed on bail at all, believing he was a flight risk. After some consideration, Magistrate Judge Debra Freeman raised bail to $2.4 million, requiring that $1 million of it be paid in cash.
The defense team asked for Bitar to be released temporarily while the new bail amount was raised, but again, the Government protested. Freeman decided that Bitar should be kept behind bars until the entire bond was available, which was not likely to be until this week. At that time, Judge Lewis Kaplan, who has been presiding over Bitar’s case, would be back on the bench.
On Friday, Judge Paul Englemayer presided over the proceedings and accepted proof from Bitar’s defense team that the entire bail could be raised. The prosecution then appealed, filing a “Memorandum in Support of Pretrial Detention,” which, in part attempted to convince the court that Bitar did not deserve to be free on bond. It detailed how he had the chance to return to the U.S. to address the charges, but remained at large for 14 months in order to keep profiting from Full Tilt’s alleged “Ponzi scheme.”Following Black Friday, company shareholders allegedly wanted him off the Board of Directors, but he convinced them to keep him on, saying his role was “too critical” and necessary in the effort to try to find investors. Some shareholders thought this was ridiculous, but he remained at his post.
Bitar, according the memo, continued to lie to Full Tilt customers, saying their money was “safe” even though he knew the company did not have the funds on hand. Bitar himself allegedly received over $2 million from Full Tilt after April 15, 2011.
The Government also argued that Bitar was a flight risk. Though he willingly turned himself in, the new charges in the superseding indictment brought with them a much greater punishment than those in the original Black Friday indictment. Bitar now faces as much as 145 years in prison, “a powerful incentive to flee.”
Also of issue was $24 million in a foreign bank account in Bitar’s name that he tried to acquire earlier this year. If there is a chance he has access to that kind of money, the Government argued, then there's a chance he could run.Fast-forward to Monday, when Kaplan returned to the bench. Because Bitar retained an attorney from Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton, & Garrison LLP, a firm for which Kaplan once worked, the judge recused himself from the case. Therefore, the bail hearing was back in Englemayer’s hands.
Before Englemayer could rule, however, Bitar’s defense team reached an agreement with the Government. According to Diamond Flush Poker, the terms are now as follows:
1. The $2.5 million bond Bitar’s side must raise is made up of $280,000 cash and $715,000 in real property. The rest is made up by a California warehouse owned by Bitar.
2. Bitar must give up all travel documents and may not apply for any new ones.
3. Bitar must produce documentation of all of his assets.
4. Bitar must stay in New York City for 48 hours while financial disclosures are completed.
5. Bitar will be electronically monitored and is only allowed to travel to the Central District of California (where he will live) and the Eastern and Southern Districts of New York.
Thus, it appears that Bitar will be able to go home to California as early as Wednesday. No further court dates are scheduled and while Englemayer presided over the final bail hearing, Diamond Flush Poker is reporting that no judge has yet been assigned to hear the rest of the case.
