Howard Lederer Scam
Following the scandal Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, Howard Lederer, and CEO Ray Bitar were all castigated for their roles in players getting ripped off. But in Matusow’s opinion though, Ferguson did nothing wrong apart from consenting to the wrong guys running a business where he was the majority shareholder.In other words, Lederer and Bitar were all to blame. FREE Background Report. Check Reputation Score for Howard Lederer in Marysville, WA - View Criminal & Court Records Photos Address, Email & Phone Number Personal Review $80 - $89,999 Income & Net Worth.
Ray Bitar pleaded guilty Monday to violation of the UIGEA and conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud, avoiding jail time because he needs a heart transplant, according to The Wall Street Journal. His plea means that no former owner of Full Tilt Poker was found responsible for the disappearance of more than $300 million worth of player funds.
Howard Lederer, Chris Ferguson and Rafe Furst all settled their respective civil cases with the U.S. government without admitting to any wrong doing. Bitar was on the hook for criminal charges as well, and, like his former colleagues, will fork over a lot of cash to the government.
No one admitted to, or was found guilty of, stealing from players themselves. The Department of Justice had called Full Tilt Poker a “global Ponzi scheme.” In his sentencing, Bitar reportedly did admit that “safe and secure” was a bogus phrase to describe player funds.
A U.S. Attorney said in 2011 that Full Tilt Poker “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 about the safety and security of the money deposited with the company.” These accusations were never proven, though Americans have obviously been left empty-handed.
The case of the alleged Full Tilt Poker heist appears to be closed. Those once accused of being responsible for arguably the biggest scandal to ever hit the poker world are out of hot water. To this day, Americans are without a sum totaling about $160 million.
It’s worth noting that individuals who were involved in the payment processing aspect of the business, such as Chad Elie, have arguably been hit with the stiffest penalties.
15:0221 May
Every scam that has hit the poker world has inevitably hurt someone, somewhere – most often the everyday player, in their pockets – and today we’re going to try to put a monetary value on the biggest scams the poker world has ever seen.
Without being glib about it, the poker phrase ‘Read ‘em and weep’ has never been more appropriate.
1. Full Tilt Poker ($440million)
It was the biggest site boasting the most glorious players in the game – the heyday of modern poker where there was enough money around to make almost everyone rich, none more so than the likes of Chris ‘Jesus’ Ferguson, Howard ‘The Professor’ Lederer and Ray Bitar – joint owners and founders of Full Tilt Poker.
When Black Friday hit in April of 2011, however, the glory days turned to dust for almost everyone else – Full Tilt Poker’s bosses suddenly unable to meet player withdrawals as they had used player funds on their own lavish bonuses and lifestyles.
Check out my previous PokerTube article for the full story behind poker’s biggest scam – a $440million rip-off of ordinary players.
2. Ultimate Bet/Absolute Poker ($50million)
This pair of massive scams belong together, and although it’s hard to put an exact figure on how much players were taken for, a round $50million isn’t too far off the mark when all the bits and pieces are put together.
The phrase ‘God-mode’ entered into the darkest annals of poker history after amateur poker sleuths discovered that superuser accounts – allowing certain people at the top of the UB/AP food chain to see their opponents hole cards – were had been taking $millions from unsuspecting opponents.
Read about the involvement of 1994 WSOP Main Event winner Russ Hamilton and his fellow criminal Scott Tom in this detailed look at the second biggest scam in poker history.
3. Lock Poker Fraud ($15million)
This horrendous scam saw everything from financial mismanagement and profligate personal spending at the very top, to cheating on the site by their biggest-named pro Jose “Girah” Macedo, to ultimately stiffing their players for a minimum of $15million when the site finally closed.
Howard Lederer Scam Customer Service
It was, all said and done, a huge Ponzi scheme – portraying itself as the best site for US players while at the same time squirreling away and spending the money which wasn’t theirs, CEO Jen Larson the greediest pig at the trough by all accounts.
You can read more about Larson, Macedo and Lock Poker in this version of the ‘Top 5 most despised names in poker history’.
4. Epic Poker League ($5million+)
What could have become an amazing brand for the ages, the Epic Poker League became an epic failure – 100 creditors being owed over $5million between them after Epic’s parent company declared bankruptcy after only 3 events, aborting a promised $1million freeroll in the process.
“Epic should have done it on a beer budget and, instead, tried to do it on a Dom Perignon budget,” was how one unpaid investor described the debacle, which once again had the disgraced and disgraceful Annie Duke sitting centre stage when it all fell apart.
5. The MSN Messenger Poker Scam ($3million+)
Annie Duke
Rounding out our top 5 biggest poker scams is one which took Scandinavian superstars of the game, Patrik Antonius and Johnny Lodden, for at least $3million using the MSN Messenger app.
The cunning scam involved a ‘new player’ to the big games taking on the duo at the tables, piqueing their curiosity and then planting a Trojan virus when they accepted an MSN messenger chat request.
Howard Lederer Scam Customer Service
The result? A ‘superuser’ bug installed which meant that Antonius and Lodden’s cards were visible to the villain, and the expensive outcome is in the title – the pair finally realising what was going on but no-one ever being caught for the treachery.