On Tuesday, Poker Strategyreleased an interview with embattled Full Tilt Poker executive Ray Bitar (pictured), who was one of 11 people indicted on Black Friday nearly a year ago. Bitar has been largely off the grid, but told Poker Strategy readers, “I would like to offer my sincere apology to all who have been affected by these events and to clarify that my silence was not an attempt to ‘hide’ or ‘ignore’ the situation.” His comments have ignited a lively thread in the Poker Sites forum.

Bitar began his dialogue with Poker Strategy by addressing why what was formerly the second largest online poker site in the world has been largely mute since Black Friday. Meanwhile, players from the United States and around the world have not been reunited with their bankrolls and are growing increasingly impatient.

Bitar noted that two factors played into his silence: “One is the ongoing legal process which has precluded me from providing any relevant information surrounding the ongoing investigation, and, of course, I have not wanted to jeopardize the process in any way.” Many of Full Tilt’s figureheads, including the indicted Howard Lederer (pictured) and Chris Ferguson, have also remained silent.

The second reason he has been quiet, according to Bitar’s interview on Poker Strategy: “I have been working every single day since Black Friday to ensure players are repaid, which has been my top priority, as well as working on the future plans of FTP. This work had to be done out of the scrutiny of the public eye.” How he has been working “every single day” and what the “future plans of FTP” are were not explained.

Full Tilt executives are in the midst of trying to sell the assets of the company to Groupe Bernard Tapie in a transaction that has spanned several months. In an exclusive interviewposted on the final day of February here in PocketFives, Groupe Bernard Tapie legal counsel Behn Dayanim reassured us, “The Tapie group is committed to trying to make this deal work. We wouldn’t have spent the time, effort, and money if there weren’t a desire to do so. I’m reasonably confident that we can bring this to a full conclusion. We are optimistic that we’ll be able to get this done.”

Bitar also acknowledged that the poker community was, understandably, outraged at Full Tilt’s management team: “My love for the sport and the poker community has made it very difficult to keep silent, particularly in light of the many angry sentiments directed at FTP, myself, and others in newspapers and blogs. Given the lack of information that has been made public, I can certainly understand these sentiments.”

Bitar then digressed into his life since Black Friday, the one-year anniversary of which will take place next month. “As a manager of Tiltware, I have been cooperating fully with the DOJ so they can complete their investigation,” the Full Tilt head claimed. “Beyond that, I spend a good deal of my time making sure that FTP survives and that the players get repaid.” Bitar gave no timeline for players to receive their funds.

Although the interview did not unearth any groundbreaking news, posters on PocketFives reacted to it in a thread that received about 500 views at press time. One PocketFiver from New York sarcastically wrote, “No need to worry, Bitar is on the job and working day and night.” Another member of the online poker community questioned, “Why did it take so long to even say that much?”

One PocketFiver from Missouri echoed the same sentiments: “Kind of reminded me of when the MLB players testified before Congress… totally worthless.”

Bitar faces a laundry list of charges stemming from his role in Full Tilt pre-Black Friday, including conspiracy to violate the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA), violation of the UIGEA, operation of an illegal gambling business, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud, and money laundering conspiracy. To our knowledge, he has not surrendered to U.S. authorities. Read the original Black Friday indictments.

A PokerNews article published on Wednesday reinforced that Dayanim and company are “reasonably optimistic” that the Full Tilt acquisition will eventually close. Also hitting the press on Wednesday was a report from the iGamingPost saying that a private equity firm from the U.K. is interested in purchasing Full Tilt Poker’s software should the deal with Tapie fall through.