Full Tilt Poker Ponzi Scheme Withheld Users' Money, Allege Feds

The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) has been involved with a dispute with embattled online gambling site Full Tilt Poker (FTP) over whether their operations amounted to a Ponzi scheme. According to the Wall Street Journal, the government claims that Full Tilt Poker withheld money from users’ accounts to fund profits for FTP’s owners and other payments. The gambling company’s license has since been revoked for breaches in federal regulations, including false reporting, unauthorized provision of credit, and failing to report material events. An estimated $150 to $390 million is still reportedly owed to Full Tilt Poker players.

Full Tilt Poker allegedly participated in a slew of illegal and questionable activity.

Players’ accounts have been frozen since the June 30 shutdown of the online gambling site. Full Tilt Poker allegedly participated in a slew of illegal and questionable activity, resulting in the payment of $444 million to its directors while withholding payment from players. These alleged actions included tricking Visa and Mastercard into allowing payments to gambling websites by faking that the payments were going to companies completely unrelated to Full Tilt Poker. The site additionally allowed some players to pay with funds never withdrawn from their accounts, which led to $130 million in “phantom money,” according to reports.

Full Tilt Poker apparently operated "with the hope that only a small number of players would try to withdraw funds at any one time, and that Full Tilt Poker would regularly receive additional deposits in amounts greater than withdrawal requests,” say reports. Instead, when the Justice Department viewed its accounts, the online gambling site owed players around $390 million yet only had about $60 million in the bank.

Recent reports show that Full Tilt Poker may have tentative agreements to be sold to French tycoon Bernard Tapia, but it is still considered unlikely that players will be refunded the money they are owed from the site. If you or a loved one has been defrauded by Full Tilt Poker, you may be eligible to file a lawsuit to collect what you are owed from the company. Contact a dedicated Full Tilt Ponzi lawsuit attorney by completing the form on the right to find out if you have legal recourse.