FULL TILT POKER SCANDAL HOWARD FULL
In other words, Full Tilt was clandestinely insolvent. Additionally, when players cashed out their winnings, they were paid with new player deposits, but necessarily so. In short, Full Tilt was accused of co-mingling player funds with the company’s operating funds, which are used to pay company expenses, owners’ salaries and profit distributions. In 2011, the FBI shut down the two largest online poker sites operating in the United States, Full Tilt and PokerStars, on grounds that both sites’ systems for receiving and distributing deposits violated federal law. Some of the many Full Tilt Poker team pros Full Tilt Poker Black Friday Other pros–such as Mike Matusow, Ted Forrest and Jennifer Harman–were involved with Full Tilt as well, but not nearly as much as Lederer and Ferguson.
Given reputations of respect, success, and professionalism, both Howard Lederer and Chris Ferguson’s endorsements of Full Tilt were significant for legitimizing the site, and as a result Full Tilt quickly became one of the most popular online poker sites in the United States. For Lederer’s part, despite issuing an apology for his role in the scandal his personal and professional reputation has continued to suffer. The end result for both Lederer and Ferguson was a nearly six-year hiatus from professional poker. Prosecutors alleged that both Lederer and Ferguson collected more than $40,000,000 each over a four-year period from unscrupulous and illegal conduct by Full Tilt. In September of 2011, Full Tilt was sued in federal court over allegations that it was a Ponzi scheme.
The short answer is that both Howard Lederer and Chris Ferguson were managing officers and the public faces of the once-popular online card room Full Tilt Poker. Two-time WSOP bracelet winner, two-time WPT champion, author and entrepreneur Howard Lederer has been vilified by the poker community.