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Full Tilt poker tycoon arrested by FBI
Source: The Guardian
Full Tilt poker tycoon arrested by FBI
Simon Bowers
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 3 July 2012 19.05 BST
The gambling tycoon who ran the world's second largest online poker site from servers in Guernsey has surrendered to the FBI just over a year after the Full Tilt internet address was seized by America's top white-collar crime prosecutor and the business effectively shut down.
Ray Bitar, chief executive of the Full Tilt group, was arrested on landing at JFK airport. He faces nine charges including bank fraud, money laundering, wire fraud and operating an illegal gambling business.
In April last year the US authorities struck against Full Tilt and two other large websites they said were offering poker illegally in the US. Soon afterwards they discovered what they alleged was a "Ponzi-style scheme" at Full Tilt, where huge sums supposed to be in segregated players' accounts were missing.
On Monday Preet Bharara, US attorney for the southern district of New York, said the alleged fraud orchestrated by Bitar and co-conspirators had left Full Tilt unable to pay about $350m (£223m) to players around the world, believed to include thousands in the UK.
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Simon Bowers
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 3 July 2012 19.05 BST
The gambling tycoon who ran the world's second largest online poker site from servers in Guernsey has surrendered to the FBI just over a year after the Full Tilt internet address was seized by America's top white-collar crime prosecutor and the business effectively shut down.
Ray Bitar, chief executive of the Full Tilt group, was arrested on landing at JFK airport. He faces nine charges including bank fraud, money laundering, wire fraud and operating an illegal gambling business.
In April last year the US authorities struck against Full Tilt and two other large websites they said were offering poker illegally in the US. Soon afterwards they discovered what they alleged was a "Ponzi-style scheme" at Full Tilt, where huge sums supposed to be in segregated players' accounts were missing.
On Monday Preet Bharara, US attorney for the southern district of New York, said the alleged fraud orchestrated by Bitar and co-conspirators had left Full Tilt unable to pay about $350m (£223m) to players around the world, believed to include thousands in the UK.
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Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/jul/03/full-tilt-poker-bitar-arrested
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