What a ridiculous interview. It was 3 questions and 3 answers, and none really said anything.
You can summarize the entire interview with one sentence: "I'm sorry for the silence, I've been quiet because of the ongoing legal proceedings, and I've been spending my time trying to get everyone paid back."
Here is the actual interview text:
http://www.pokerstrategy.com/news/wo...r-World_57346/
Or you can just read below:
PokerStrategy.com:Ray, there has been public outrage surrounding the fact that you have been silent since the Black Friday shutdown and indictments. Can you say why you haven’t made any public statements?Ray Bitar:
There are two reasons. One is the ongoing legal process which has precluded me from providing any relevant information surrounding the on-going investigation, and of course, I have not wanted to jeopardize the process in any way. While I could have made general statements throughout this process, they would not directly relate to the issues under investigation. Any such statements would be so general in nature that they would not provide answers to the many questions people understandably have.PokerStrategy.com:
The second reason is that, along with others, 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. And so while it might satisfy people to have specific information about those ongoing discussions - and it would certainly take some of the heat off myself - I am convinced that such public statements would diminish the likelihood of a successful outcome, which is what we need to be focused on.
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. My primary focus has been and continues to be working towards getting us to where we want to be – the repayment of the players and the survival of the company. I have been fully dedicated to this cause and am doing everything possible for a beneficial outcome.
What’s been happening since Black Friday?
Ray Bitar:My life has drastically changed since last April. As a manager of Tiltware, I have been cooperating fully with the DOJ so they can complete their investigation. Beyond that, I spend a good deal of my time making sure that FTP survives and that the players get repaid. I know that these events have hurt a lot of innocent people and it’s my main job to make things right. I continue to work on these issues, day and night until we resolve them.PokerStrategy.com:
Is there anything you would like to say to the online poker community?Ray Bitar:
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. It was done out of necessity to ensure the focus remained on the continued efforts to reach the best outcome for the players. My entire focus is on obtaining a successful resolution for the players. I hope that before long I can provide some good news for all of the players involved.
Pretty fucking lame. That's all he has to say after being silent for 11 months. Fuck that guy! I hope he rots in a cell and gets violated daily.
Originally Posted by Dan Druff
The fact that he gave that interview is VERY good news for people who have money stuck on FTP imo...even though he really didn't say anything.
bad news for you will...
https://www.pokertableratings.com/re...wb942q1qa+vdz4
bad news for you will...
https://www.pokertableratings.com/re...wb942q1qa+vdz4
how could i ever have rolled you yeb when you slow play quads?
please send
I think you guys need to get off Bitar, Jesus and Lederer's nutsack. Had Black Friday never happened, FTP would have no financial troubles whatsoever. Here Bitar takes care of the FTP pros aka employees, makes many of these guys millionaire's, and doesn't get any respect for his incredible generosity. Guess he should have all his employees on food stamps and make himself a billionaire like Scheinberg.
FTP and their owners were generous as hell with players and employees, Stars was ran by a fu**ing tightwad and the only player's getting any rakeback type reward was like a handful of Super Nova E's unlike FT who was dishing out nice RB.. No Black Friday, no problem at FTP, get it through your fu**ing heads.
You don't like what happened on black Friday well maybe you should turn off your Fox News for 5 minutes and make a informed decision in the voting booth and stop blaming Full Tilt's owners for you electing corrupt chumps like Kyl and his family values brethren.
fps russia, I am full of sincerity when I say nigga what?
Re-read, it's pretty clear to me. I made the assumption most readers actually played at FTP at some point, sorry for making you feel left out Mr. nunbeater, disregard my post and move on.
So the US government actually stole all of our money on deposit at Full Tilt, not Ray Bitar and friends?
Yeah, shame on our government for busting them and bringing this fact to light sooner rather than later.
FPS_Russia's post is completely moronic and a failed attempt at dark humor.
need to perma-ban this retard obv.
1. No FTP bigs may have dipped their hand in the cookie jar a lil bit, maybe that money was used in a massive ad campaign with the UFC or whatever. Bottom line: If there was no Black Friday there would be no problem for FTP paying employees and cashouts from players and maintaing daily operations, this is not in dispute, no Black Friday no problem at FTP!So the US government actually stole all of our money on deposit at Full Tilt, not Ray Bitar and friends?
Yeah. shame on our government for busting them and bringing this fact to light sooner rather than later.
FTP would already be cashing out US players even after BF's crushing blow if the Alderney Gaming Commission would not have pulled plug on FTP. What they did to FTP and the US players chance of being paid is soo huge yet everyone forgot about it, and gave them a free pass on that catastrophic decision. << HUGE HUGE HUGE AND NO ONE MENTIONs IT.
2. You make it sound like the GOV. noticed a accounting fraud and decided to step in and save the players, WTF!
This all started from Jon Kyl adding the UIGEA to the safe ports bill in the middle of the night on the eve of the last day congress was in session and passed the next day while most members already left on break.. Since Obama's AG "Holder" is such a unbiased straight shooter, he had no choice but to enforce the law Kyl put in the ports bill. For real Holder don't let politics affect what he does, Obama does something Illegal Holder will bust him, he's that hardball. NO KYL=NO UIGEA=NO BLACK FRIDAY, simple.
Last edited by FPS_Russia; 03-09-2012 at 11:44 AM.
Dude what the fuck are you smoking Russia?? Are you kidding me? If anything FTP would have created a bigger mess then already happened with the money going out faster then it was coming in it was going to collapse anyway whether you want to keep living in your little fucking fairyland or not is your choice. Guys like you make me laugh typical fucking ostrich, stick your head in the sand and pretend everything is hunky dory and that nobody can see a damn thing while your ass is sticking up in the air for the whole world..
The "interview" served one purpose and one purpose only: to get a shit ton of people to go to pokerlistings who otherwise wouldn't go there.
It worked quite well, I would think.
FPS_Russia, I hope you are trolling here.
Once they "dip their hand in the cookie jar", they are STEALING. You cannot make excuses for that. If they needed money for promotions, they should have cut down the distributions to their owners, and used that money. Or they could have just waited until the rake on the site naturally generated money for them again.
The DOJ busts were intended to shut down the sites for breaking the law, but an unintended result (and benefit to the players) was that it exposed the fact that 2 of the 3 sites they busted were stealing all or most of the player money on deposit, and that the players really didn't have the money that they thought they did. It shut down a 9-figure case of fraud before it could get even worse. This was a GOOD thing.
And Full Tilt shouldn't have a license to operate. Why should they be able to keep their license, after what they did? Why should they be able to continue serving Euro players, when they don't have the money to back their player deposits, either?
This collapse was inevitable. If it didn't happen on April 15th, it would have happened later on, and there would have been even more victims. It turned out to be a great thing that the DOJ busted them.
has Ivey ever said anything else after his initial 'stament' and is he still dedicating the entirety of his time and efforts to finding a solution for those who have been wronged by the painfully slow process of repayment???
Alderney should of took over the accounting in the interim, shutting them down was a irresponsible knee jerk reaction and catastrophic to everyone, was it not? Anyhow I like your new poker forum and all but for goodness sake quit guzzling the Kool-Aid you and pokerem are punch drunk.
These guys are fighting for their freedom and on the verge of losing everything they own, racking up massive legal bills, having to remain silent on advise from their lawyers and everyone's jumping to conclusions. You guys think they're sipping drinks on the beach when in reality they're to stressed to even get a good nights sleep. No fu**ing way Ferguson and Lederer are the ruthless crooks they're being labeled, no way!
Congratulations, you have just gone full fucking retard.
Nice to see Howard has taken time out from his busy schedule to join a new poker forum & set us all straight.
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