In recent days, much has been made about the nearly $17 million allegedly owed to Full Tilt Poker from a handful of brand name pros, including Phil Ivey, Layne Flack, David Benyamine, Erick Lindgren, Barry Greenstein, and Mike Matusow.As you probably already know, Groupe Bernard Tapie is in the process of doing due diligence on Full Tilt Poker in order to complete its asset acquisition. Its lawyer, Behn Dayanim, told PokerStrategy in recent days, “If the money doesn't come in, it creates a serious obstacle to completion of the deal. This isn't the only issue with the takeover, and the deal won't end on any one issue, but this is a substantial item.”
PocketFives had the privilege of sitting down with Tapie’s legal counsel on Wednesday. Dayanim told us in an exclusive interview that the rumored March 1st restart date for Full Tilt Poker that appeared in a TightPoker article this week might not be realistic: “It's very difficult to predict with any certainty when the start date will be. We're nearing the end of the due diligence process, but there are substantial issues that remain to be surmounted. I’m not in a position to be able to comment on that date.”
What issues need to be worked out, you ask? Why couldn’t Full Tilt open its doors tomorrow? “There are a few issues that are substantial and material,” Dayanim evaluated. “The debt owed to Full Tilt Poker by players is a significant issue. We are hoping we'll be able to work through it, but there have been differing responses [when we’ve contacted players to make good on what they owe]. This is a significant issue that we're trying to address and we’ve had limited success so far.”
Dayanim also told PocketFives why Tapie chose to go public with a list of well-known pros who owe the company money rather than keep the discussions private: “The reason we've gone public is because we've had limited success on our own. It's hard to say any one person is holding up the deal, but there have been people who haven’t stepped forward to arrange for repayment.”
Greenstein (pictured) commented on his negotiations with Tapie on TwoPlusTwo: “I don't believe my debt has any impact on the sale to the Tapie group as they have alleged. I was concerned about taking money due to U.S. players and giving it to the Tapie group because it is understood that the Tapie group won't be the one paying the U.S. players.” Greenstein added that he once owed as much as $400,000 to Full Tilt.Meanwhile, Matusow contended to his 52,000 Twitter followers, “For all my fans out there, just to let you all know, I don’t owe Full Tilt anything. Why my name is mentioned, I don’t know.” Contrastingly, PokerUpdate sourced Dayanim as saying that Matusow owes $700,000 and “has not responded to our attempts to reach him to discuss the matter.”
Ivey, in his first major victory since resurfacing on the live poker circuit, recently took down the Aussie Millions $250,000 Challenge for over $2 million. The event attracted 16 players. The multiple bracelet winner had formerly filed suit against Tiltware, allegedly to get out of his non-compete agreement, but has since dropped his litigation.
Dayanim gave his overall assessment of Full Tilt Poker as Tapie nears the end of its due diligence: “The company is in worse financial condition than we anticipated, and that's reflected in a number of ways like the issues we’re having with debt. When you start the diligence process, your target is a bright, shiny apple. You know it's going to have bruises, and that’s why you have diligence. There are more bruises than we had thought here. The bruises are deeper than we hoped.”For PocketFives members who are concerned that the various obstacles could derail the acquisition entirely, Dayanim assured us that the company is working hard to ink a deal: “I'm hopeful [the deal will be finalized soon]. The Tapie group is working actively to try to make this deal work. This isn’t something where we're sitting on our hands. The group is really working hard to try to make this happen.”
Full Tilt, UB, and Absolute Poker have not paid U.S. players back since Black Friday 10 months ago.
Canada
United Kingdom
Costa Rica
Australia
Mexico
Denmark
Russian Federation
Sweden
Brazil
Germany
