Stars denies FTP deal collapse rumours
Head of corporate communications Eric Hollreiser states claims circulating on social networks are untrue.
PokerStars head of corporate communications Eric Hollreiser has moved to dismiss rumours suggesting the operator’s deal to acquire former rival Full Tilt Poker has collapsed.
Refusing to reveal his source, former PartyGaming legal counsel James Barnes said yesterday on social networking site Twitter: “Pokerstars folds on FTP deal. Never real deal, just bluff to prevent Tapie from bringing FTP back to market “ great bargaining chip with DOJ,” however Hollreiser has since revealed to numerous media sources that there are “false tweets” in circulation with regards to PokerStars and Full Tilt.
Earlier this week PokerStars filed a motion to dismiss the amended civil complaint, meeting the deadline for the filing by a matter of hours, and it had been thought at the time that this could be in danger of jeopardising the alleged agreement to acquire Full Tilt, although the Isle of Man-based operator remains bullish of a favourable outcome.
It had been suggested that such a deal would be worth as much as US$1.5bn, and would cover a settlement with the United States Department of Justice and the repayment of outstanding FTP player balances (totalling approximately $330m).
Barnes also stated on Twitter that “[The] DoJ have rejected proposal by [PokerStars founder Isai Scheinberg] to have civil charges dropped. He declined to comment further on the matter when contacted by eGR.
In the meantime, Full Tilt CEO Ray Bitar is still awaiting confirmation of the identity of the judge who will oversee his trial on charges including money laundering and wire fraud, with presiding judge Lewis Kaplan recusing himself from proceedings on the grounds that he worked for 20 years at law firm Paul Weiss, which is representing Bitar in the case.
The chief executive is currently at home in California and under electronic monitoring after being released on bail on Monday. At the time of writing, no date has been set for his next court appearance.