This has been a pretty eventful week in the world of online poker. On Tuesday, Groupe Bernard Tapie (GBT) confirmed that a tentative agreement to purchase the assets of Full Tilt Poker via the U.S. Department of Justice had failed. In the company’s place, PokerStarsis rumored to be acquiring what was once the second largest online poker room in the world.

All along, PocketFives has been in contact with GBT legal counsel Behn Dayanim, who broke down the company ceasing discussions with Full Tilt.

Recently, the poker community learned about the involvement of PokerStars, the world’s largest online poker site. But, how long had the U.S. Government been in contact with Stars prior to Tuesday? Weeks? Months?

Dayanim told PocketFives in an exclusive interview, “If the PokerStars acquisition rumors are true, we know that deals don’t come together in a few days. I have no knowledge of whether the DOJ was dealing with others. We had been negotiating for seven months and were very close to a deal. Unfortunately, at the 11th hour, the DOJ came back to us that they couldn’t do a deal with us unless we repaid rest-of-world players within 90 days. We had made clear in February that we couldn’t do that.”

GBT was reportedly planning to use a graduated scale to determine when and how much players could cash out. Why, then, would the DOJ mandate a 90-day payment window? “I don’t know,” responded Dayanim. “They only indicated it at the very end. We wanted to make the rest-of-world players whole, but we indicated that we’d need to do so over time. We thought we had reached an agreement over how that would work, but the DOJ came back and said it had to be done sooner.”

PocketFives has been regularly reporting on the sale of Full Tilt Poker since September, when the Alderney Gambling Control Commission revoked the site’s license on the grounds that it “misled” its governing body. “It was a very complex deal,” Dayanim said when justifying the seven-month negotiating period. “There were lots of issues to work through. We were getting ready for the re-launch, but it took a while to get there.”

Earlier this week, poker agent Brian Balsbaugh Tweeted, “An FTP source at the highest level told me all along that when the time came, Tapie wouldn’t write the check.” Other industry insiders have also echoed this sentiment to PocketFives, while several have charged that GBT was merely promoting its International Stadiums Poker Tour instead of seriously trying to acquire Full Tilt.

“We were clearly prepared to move forward with this deal,” Dayanim countered. “[GBT Managing Director]Laurent Tapie was in Dublin preparing a re-launch plan. Tapie invested a substantial sum of money and we were prepared to go forward. We thought we were ready to go. We were only waiting on a few technical details when the DOJ came forward and said we had to agree to a 90-day repayment plan.”

Would GBT consider reopening negotiations if the PokerStars purchase does not pan out, or is GBT officially out of the running for Full Tilt? When asked that very question, Dayanim responded, “As far as we know, our negotiations have ended.” Now, the poker community will wait for an official statement from PokerStars or Full Tilt. The former declined comment in a blog post on Tuesday.

Finally, non-U.S. players with funds stuck in Full Tilt could have expected to see 100% of their balances under the GBT proposal, according to Dayanim: “We were going to pay 100%. The reason we needed a time frame was because it was a substantial liability. We couldn’t accommodate it all at once.” The DOJ was likely going to be charged with paying back U.S. players.

Now what? Two industry experts weighed in on the future of PokerStars and Full Tilt in the U.S. market in a feature article published on Friday on PocketFives. Read more.

Check out the rest of our recent Full Tilt Poker coverage:

Poker Industry Insiders Comment on U.S. Impact of PokerStars, Full Tilt Deal
Major Media Outlets Lend Credence to Full Tilt, PokerStars Rumors
PokerStars Stays Mum on Full Tilt Acquisition Rumors
Poker Community Reacts to PokerStars Rumored Purchase of Full Tilt
Analysis of Alleged Full Tilt Buyout by PokerStars
GBT: Issues Surrounding FTP Purchase “Proved Unresolvable”
Rumor: PokerStars Buys Full Tilt, GBT Says Statement Coming Shortly