Because online poker websites were never really “legal” in the United States they went largely unchecked for years, allowing popular website Full Tilt Poker to generate a massive ponzi scheme to the tune of $390 million says federal investigators.
According to the Justice Department the site cheated players out of $300 million while their executives paid themselves with money that didn’t necessarily exist.
Full Tilt Poker executives Howard Lederer and Christopher Ferguson are said to have earned $42 and $25 million from the site however when it was shut down by the U.S. Government in April.
According to the US Attorney’s office:
“Full Tilt was not a legitimate poker company, but a global Ponzi scheme,” while adding that the site “cheated and abused its own players to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars,” and “insiders lined their own pockets with funds picked from the pockets of their most loyal customers while blithely lying to both players and the public alike.”
At this time officials are attempting to figure out how best to recoup money for players, a sum equal to $390 million at a time when the company has just $60 million in the bank.
Did you lose any money in the Full Tilt Poker crackdown? How much are you out?