In a thread on TwoPlusTwo, Full Tilt Poker pro Tom durrrr Dwan (pictured) fielded questions about the online poker room. On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Justice alleged that Full Tilt was a “global Ponzi scheme” and amended its original Black Friday complaint to single out Chris Ferguson, Howard Lederer, and Rafe Furst as masterminding a fraudulent company while paying owners and executives over $440 million. Dwan answered a variety of questions and acknowledged that Full Tilt Poker was “ridiculously tightlipped.”On what information Dwan knew that might have helped players post-Black Friday, “durrrr” explained, “I knew info that I could, and wanted to share. I went back and forth many times about what I thought was in the best interest of players being paid back, and tried to do what was right with that in mind. Dunno if I did, but doubt any course of action after mid-June would've made much difference.”
Dwan critiqued Full Tilt’s management, telling members of the poker community, “It’s just such a joke that they f’kd off a business which should've been worth $500M right now. So many disgusting areas of mismanagement and lack of oversight.” In May, Dwan was aware of the company’s books: “I had a very accurate picture of the books (from friends having the company audited).” The Alderney Gambling Control Commission suspended Full Tilt Poker’s operating license one month later.Dwan called on Full Tilt Poker’s team of sponsored pros to step in and repay players: “I don't think the people who were paid $50K/yr and needed it to eat should give back much (although some peanuts would be nice and a good gesture), but I do think the sponsored pros should be giving back as much as they can for what they were paid since the company was insolvent.”
On Full Tilt’s finances, Dwan admitted, “The amount of money they made was insane... and that was with a ton of gaping holes in management and overall long-term policies.” He added, “This company had way less oversight than it should’ve (or it obviously never would’ve gotten to this point). Any competent person who had a % of FTP would’ve shut down processing to the U.S. at any point once they noticed the hole, and bam they still have a nine-figure business.”
Following the company’s decision to continue processing U.S. payments after it became apparent that collecting on those deposits could be problematic, Dwan explained, “What should've been an annoying problem after a few weeks turned into a ****ty problem, then a really ****ty problem, and then a gaping hole capable of killing the company.” Full Tilt owed $390 million to players around the world as of March, according to the DOJ.
He added that if Full Tilt doesn’t pay players, he’d fork over his salary from the last 20 months, and revealed that he found out about the player “hole” in April. However, because he was under an NDA, he lamented, “My only option was going to the Southern District (and probably having Tilt shut down). I thought many times about this and thought the likelihood of Tilt paying out was high enough, and the new deposits small enough, that it was worth waiting.”
Dwan labeled the DOJ’s use of the phrase Ponzi scheme “ridiculous” and added that he was paid over $1 million to represent the company. He commented that he could be freerolling if he has to pay out: “I haven’t gotten paid since Black Friday, but I also owe them money. I'll pay what I owe whenever there’s a new investor, or a credible liquidator. If not, I'll give the $$ to players in whatever way I think is most fair and also legal.” Dwan also explained that he had no equity or profit sharing in his contract.
If you’ll remember, Full Tilt Poker pro Phil Ivey (pictured) filed a lawsuit against the online poker room, presumably to get out of his contract, and then promptly dropped it. On why Ivey withdrew his legal action, Dwan speculated, “He was convinced that the potential investor, who I previously mentioned was looking at the company from when the L.A. Times story ran (and a little before) until two-ish weeks ago, was likely to buy the company.” Two weeks ago, the exclusive negotiating period between the group of European investors and Full Tilt ended.Dwan charged that Full Tilt Poker support staff falsely saying that player funds were separated from operating expenses was “pretty criminal” and revealed that he believed funds were being segregated: “I was inclined to believe it was segregated accounts and never would've joined with FTP had I not believed this (and would've left at any time I found out).”
Read our article about the DOJ’s declaration that Full Tilt was a Ponzi scheme and the Poker Players Alliance’s reaction.
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