HOWARD LEDERER releases statement through Kid Poker. Statement below link to article

[4BET]

Howard blames this mess on over 100 million worth of bad echecks, I would guess 'one step' didn't help matters. This statement is all B.S. He is not sorry and he does not think he did anything wrong. I would agree with the fact full tilt couldn't process payments for a long time didn't help matters. When players seen they didn't take their deposits out of the bank, They fucked FT by putting stop payment order or withdrawing the cash from the bank. Then when FT finally went to process payments they were worthless

[FPS_Russia]

If black friday never happened would Full Tilt Poker still be in operation with a stellar reputation? The answer is YES WITH 99% CERTAINTY. Everyone still got paid. That's all that matters so save it.

It was out of their control so STFU with your threats of violence. Quit manufacturing scandals and acting like they're on par with Russ Hamilton or Bernie Madoff. FTP pumped a shitload of money into the poker economy while Pokerstars pulled a shitload of money out of the poker economy.

I guarantee Greg Raymer wouldn't have to run a shady BAP if he was a Full Tilt pro instead of Stars.

Yea you sheep get on your knees and worship Pokerstars, Wal Mart etc. while a handful billionaires wipe out the middle class aka you.

[MumblesBadly]

"Dear Howard,

An apology, even one quite late, is a good step, but only the beginning. Because in order to begin to make the players who trusted you whole, you need to work to provide them with compensatory financial relief for the trouble you contributed to them experience by the extensive period they waited to recover their funds.

As a start, you should pledge $10 million of your own wealth to fund a compensation fund for those Full Tilt players who lost access to their funds who were not directly affiliated with the company. Then work to make sure players have a chance to claim and receive proportional payments from that fund based on the moneys they recovered from the government's reimbursement program.

Because if you truly are sorry that your negligence/incompentence/whatever hurt those players, you need to honor that acceptance of responsibility with action towards making them whole for the damages they experienced from your failings in that matter.

Sincerely,

An objective observer"

[gauchojake]

If black friday never happened would Full Tilt Poker still be in operation with a stellar reputation? The answer is YES WITH 99% CERTAINTY. Everyone still got paid. That's all that matters so save it.

It was out of their control so STFU with your threats of violence. Quit manufacturing scandals and acting like they're on par with Russ Hamilton or Bernie Madoff. FTP pumped a shitload of money into the poker economy while Pokerstars pulled a shitload of money out of the poker economy.

I guarantee Greg Raymer wouldn't have to run a shady BAP if he was a Full Tilt pro instead of Stars.

Yea you sheep get on your knees and worship Pokerstars, Wal Mart etc. while a handful billionaires wipe out the middle class aka you.

Ponzi schemes never fail! Lately you've gone full retard bro

[Dan Druff]

Not a sincere apology.

Surprised Daniel fell for it, especially given how Howard & Annie mistreated him for so long.

Someone apparently advised Howard to take another crack at fixing his image, but this time with a more conciliatory tone.

But this statement does not take responsibility for anything. It pretty much says, "I left people whom I trusted in charge, they screwed up, and I am sorry for not keeping better tabs on them."

But that's not what happened, and it's BS.

Howard was on the board of directors. It was his responsibility to know the financial state of the company. I do not believe for a second that he was blindsided on April 9th, 2011 (conveniently just 6 days before Black Friday) with the financial situation (which is what he claimed in the Pokernews interview). I believe Howard was fully involved in the decision to accept deposits while not actually receiving the money, thus stealing from players whenever they processed cashouts (as they were paying out other players' money). And if Howard was somehow unaware until April 9th that his company had been looted, he should have been. Ignorance is no excuse when you're on the 4-man board of directors.

Furthermore, even if Howard's story is true regarding the way the money got stolen (basically that it's all Bitar's fault), he still committed a terrible sin by LYING to players after Black Friday about the state of their money. A message on the site said, "Your money is safe", but that was not true. It was gone. The Americans could no longer play there, but the site continued to operate for the European players in a shameful attempt to rob Peter to pay Paul. Howard makes no apology for that.

Basically this is a deflection of blame and taking only indirect blame for not catching someone else's wrongdoing.

Why did he release it with Daniel, a longtime enemy and critic? Again, it was a calculated move. He didn't want to release it through a friendly party, because the message would have come off as less sincere. Instead, he released it through a known, longtime critic, thus making the message look more legitimate, as it then appears much less of a plan between Howard and his buddies to rebuild his image. But trust me, that's exactly what it was, and Daniel was just an unwitting pawn.

[sah_24]

Did not read.

I feel Lederer, Fergie, and the Ray Bitar have been unfairly victimized by the entire poker community. The hatred and venom spewed towards those three has not been warranted. I'm not trolling and Druff's an over the top conservative stickler, just saying.

First off, it wasn't no scheme! Had black Friday never happened they would still be a leader in the online poker world. Every cash out request would of been processed.
Second:They were extremely generous with their employees. If more companies were like them there would still be a middle class. I guess they should of been like Pokerstars and had one or two guys keep all the profit while everyone else fights for peanuts, fuck that.
Third: If you voted Republican during that time it's your fuckin fault black friday happened.

Who's DOJ was it that prosecuted the sites in 2011 oh ya Barack Obama's, only liberals can be this stupid . . .

[duped_samaritan]

I will forgive him the day he calls his sister out for being such a bitch.

[IamGreek]

Me thinks Choice Center just got a new recruit via DN. Splains everything.

[Shizzmoney]

Did not read.

I feel Lederer, Fergie, and the Ray Bitar have been unfairly victimized by the entire poker community. The hatred and venom spewed towards those three has not been warranted. I'm not trolling and Druff's an over the top conservative stickler, just saying.

First off, it wasn't no scheme! Had black Friday never happened they would still be a leader in the online poker world. Every cash out request would of been processed.
Second:They were extremely generous with their employees. If more companies were like them there would still be a middle class. I guess they should of been like Pokerstars and had one or two guys keep all the profit while everyone else fights for peanuts, fuck that.
Third: If you voted Republican during that time it's your fuckin fault black friday happened.

Uhh.. You do realize that Obama was in Office and Preet Bhara is an Obama appointee right??? So yeah no.. GOP might've pulled a shitty stunt with UIGEA but BF happened with Obama in charge and his DOJ folks. That shit didn't go down without his knowledge and signing off on it...

And Eric Holder testified in front of Congress that he didn't give two shits about poker, or those who played it (and the assumption that he didn't care if folks got their money back). Another funny anecdote: Ivey, Lederer, and Negreanu actually met Obama at the 2008 DNC in Denver, presumably to grease the wheels on poker (which probably involved the PPA, as the only way to get into those National Convention parties is to be a lobbyist and pay cash to these govt lackeys). And just like FTP and PStars' efforts in Nevada (see: Harry Reid), that was all money on fire.

The attack on online gambling has ALWAYS BEEN a bipartisan effort by government, funded by religious groups, the Sands corporation, and Ceasars.

Either way, this is some milquetoast apology bullshit from Howard. Too little, too late. I wish a motherfucka would play a WSOP event; we should start a pool on which player is the first to rip his ass a new one at the table.

As for Ferguson, we will never see him again in the poker world methinks.

[The Shrink]

As for Ferguson, we will never see him again in the poker world methinks.

Definitely agree with this. It seems Lederer has nothing other than poker so he's trying to set himself up to reenter the world as a player. Ferguson had a lot more going for him in terms of occupational skills and recreational pursuits. He didn't even seem to enjoy poker. Plus he has the added bonus of being able to hide behind a drastically changed appearance. I'll bet once he cuts his hair and shaved his beard very few people would recognize him. No way he's still walking around with that fucked out Jesus get-up, even if he's sipping Mai Tais on a beach somewhere on an island that he bought with players' money.

[Shizzmoney]

It seems Lederer has nothing other than poker

In the end, he's a straight up gambling addict. I mean, dude left an Ivy League school to living on benches in NYC so he could gamble at the Mayfair.

file under: Degens gonna degen

Ferguson had a lot more going for him in terms of occupational skills and recreational pursuits. He didn't even seem to enjoy poker.

No, I think Ferguson enjoyed the game....but the FAME is what he craved even more. He loved being a celebrity. This guy was a another fucking nerd all his life until online poker came around. Then the boom happened and he blew up, being on ESPN and NBC and FOX being one of the ambassadors of poker in the spotlight, with the money and fame and bitches that came with it.

Also, unlike Howard and the rest of the FTP crew, Chris doesn't need poker and gambling to make money. He was also a notorious nit with his cash and probably played the market with it as well. He's fine, and doesn't need poker anymore.

When Mike Matusow folds to your 3-bet with QQ face up, you probably can't beat games without FTP welfare (or being behind an anonymous handle like on Bovada). So why even bother, just go back to being a CPU programmer or whatever fucking nerd math shit you were doing and just realize the poker thing for you is over.

[Dan Druff]

Mason Malmuth's response:

Hi Everyone:

Well my opinion of Howard is somewhat different. I've known him for over 20 years, and while I'm not friends in a social sense, I have dealt with him business wise going all the way back to 1995. I have always found him to be a person of high integrity which is not that common in poker. With that said, I do consider him to be guilty of carelessness on a large scale when it came to FTP, but I also believe that Howard did not do anything malicious relative to his role at FTP.

A couple more comments. First, the radio interview, which I thought was well received and which undid much of the damage that the PokerNews interview did was of course on The Two Plus PokerCast, and thanks to our PoketCast hosts, Mike and Adam, for doing a great job of interviewing, and thanks to Howard of answering all questions to the best of his ability on our show.

Second, and this is just my opinion, but it's also my experience that attorneys tell you not to say anything and to let them speak for you, and then they say very little. The reason for this should also be obvious, especially when the government is looking at everything that you do. So Howard, doing these interviews at the time he did certainly came with some risk, and this should also explain why his apology seems long overdue to some of you.

All comments welcome.

Best wishes,
Mason

I only have one comment to the above:

 

[BeerAndPoker]

2+2 made millions off FTP in the affiliate game so of course he's not going to rip Howard a new asshole.

[Hockey Guy]

As for Ferguson, we will never see him again in the poker world methinks.

Definitely agree with this. It seems Lederer has nothing other than poker so he's trying to set himself up to reenter the world as a player. Ferguson had a lot more going for him in terms of occupational skills and recreational pursuits. He didn't even seem to enjoy poker. Plus he has the added bonus of being able to hide behind a drastically changed appearance. I'll bet once he cuts his hair and shaved his beard very few people would recognize him. No way he's still walking around with that fucked out Jesus get-up, even if he's sipping Mai Tais on a beach somewhere on an island that he bought with players' money.

Didn't he give back a whole fuckwhack of money when shit hit the fan & also wasn't it revealed that he hadn't cashed a whole bunch of those disbursement checks that everybody else was degening on?

I believe it was revealed in the pokernews interview with Howard & see no real reason to dispute it even though it came from Howard because it actually made him & everyone else look 100X worse because they didn't return their money. Maybe my memory is failing me but didn't this happen?

[ftpjesus]

I don't know about anybodyelse but this BS nonsense from lederer sounds almost like a particular video(s) somebody did in the past.



BTW anybody know where the hell the fuck you and fuck 2+2 video can be found?? Spent a bit looking and no luck. Its not on Thomas' youtube channel and google and bing were of no use.. Wanted to add it also.

[DannyDeadWood]

Todd,

I completely agree with you. But, what is the upside for DN to be Howard's conduit? unless in some way DN was doing Poker Stars a solid for some reason....

Not a sincere apology.

Surprised Daniel fell for it, especially given how Howard & Annie mistreated him for so long.

Someone apparently advised Howard to take another crack at fixing his image, but this time with a more conciliatory tone.

But this statement does not take responsibility for anything. It pretty much says, "I left people whom I trusted in charge, they screwed up, and I am sorry for not keeping better tabs on them."

But that's not what happened, and it's BS.

Howard was on the board of directors. It was his responsibility to know the financial state of the company. I do not believe for a second that he was blindsided on April 9th, 2011 (conveniently just 6 days before Black Friday) with the financial situation (which is what he claimed in the Pokernews interview). I believe Howard was fully involved in the decision to accept deposits while not actually receiving the money, thus stealing from players whenever they processed cashouts (as they were paying out other players' money). And if Howard was somehow unaware until April 9th that his company had been looted, he should have been. Ignorance is no excuse when you're on the 4-man board of directors.

Furthermore, even if Howard's story is true regarding the way the money got stolen (basically that it's all Bitar's fault), he still committed a terrible sin by LYING to players after Black Friday about the state of their money. A message on the site said, "Your money is safe", but that was not true. It was gone. The Americans could no longer play there, but the site continued to operate for the European players in a shameful attempt to rob Peter to pay Paul. Howard makes no apology for that.

Basically this is a deflection of blame and taking only indirect blame for not catching someone else's wrongdoing.

Why did he release it with Daniel, a longtime enemy and critic? Again, it was a calculated move. He didn't want to release it through a friendly party, because the message would have come off as less sincere. Instead, he released it through a known, longtime critic, thus making the message look more legitimate, as it then appears much less of a plan between Howard and his buddies to rebuild his image. But trust me, that's exactly what it was, and Daniel was just an unwitting pawn.

[Dan Druff]

Daniel gets Choice Center karma points for being forgiving.

[Jayjami]

Give Howard a break. He is asking for the poker community's forgiveness. I am sure he has paid back every dime he "earned" at Full Tilt into the player repayment fund. He is now free to walk into the Rio this June with his head head high and no repercussions whatsoever.

[Tellafriend]

Todd,

I completely agree with you. But, what is the upside for DN to be Howard's conduit? unless in some way DN was doing Poker Stars a solid for some reason....

Not a sincere apology.

Surprised Daniel fell for it, especially given how Howard & Annie mistreated him for so long.

Someone apparently advised Howard to take another crack at fixing his image, but this time with a more conciliatory tone.

But this statement does not take responsibility for anything. It pretty much says, "I left people whom I trusted in charge, they screwed up, and I am sorry for not keeping better tabs on them."

But that's not what happened, and it's BS.

Howard was on the board of directors. It was his responsibility to know the financial state of the company. I do not believe for a second that he was blindsided on April 9th, 2011 (conveniently just 6 days before Black Friday) with the financial situation (which is what he claimed in the Pokernews interview). I believe Howard was fully involved in the decision to accept deposits while not actually receiving the money, thus stealing from players whenever they processed cashouts (as they were paying out other players' money). And if Howard was somehow unaware until April 9th that his company had been looted, he should have been. Ignorance is no excuse when you're on the 4-man board of directors.

Furthermore, even if Howard's story is true regarding the way the money got stolen (basically that it's all Bitar's fault), he still committed a terrible sin by LYING to players after Black Friday about the state of their money. A message on the site said, "Your money is safe", but that was not true. It was gone. The Americans could no longer play there, but the site continued to operate for the European players in a shameful attempt to rob Peter to pay Paul. Howard makes no apology for that.

Basically this is a deflection of blame and taking only indirect blame for not catching someone else's wrongdoing.

Why did he release it with Daniel, a longtime enemy and critic? Again, it was a calculated move. He didn't want to release it through a friendly party, because the message would have come off as less sincere. Instead, he released it through a known, longtime critic, thus making the message look more legitimate, as it then appears much less of a plan between Howard and his buddies to rebuild his image. But trust me, that's exactly what it was, and Daniel was just an unwitting pawn.

[Sidewinder]

"An apology is not enough"

but here's an apology, now fuck off while i sleep on a bed made of money.

no kidding.

a gypsy was running the place, lol @ thinking black friday had anything to do with what was most assuredly eventually going to happen