In addition to the Full Tilt Poker shutdown, the site had its assets frozen. He faced a maximum prison sentence of 65 years. In April 2011, Ray Bitar found himself charged with five counts of bank fraud, money laundering, and other online gambling offenses.
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Note: Want to upgrade your poker skills? Get free preflop charts and start playing like a pro before the flop. This act made it a federal offense for a gambling enterprise to “knowingly accept in connection with the participation of another person in unlawful Internet gambling.” Whereas some sites-like PartyPoker-withdrew their business from the U.S., others, like Full Tilt, did not. Scheinberg, was the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) of 2006. At the heart of the case, United States v. This indictment included five URLs: ,, , and UB.com. The Department of Justice seized the Internet addresses of three online gambling sites. On that fateful day, a sealed indictment was unsealed. Apis a day that will live in infamy-and for far more than simply being “Tax Day.” Just say the words “ Black Friday” to any poker player and you will likely hear a collective gasp and curses of Ray Bitar. Ultimately, Full Tilt became one of the best real money poker sites in the world. While running his trading company, Bitar met-and traded for-Chris Ferguson, and this relationship-along with input from Howard Lederer and other poker pros-gave rise to Team Full Tilt and led to the site’s inception. Of course, this pales in comparison to the millions he illicitly made through Full Tilt. In his few California State Poker Championship tournaments, he managed to win $6,195. Given his interest in poker since age 12, it seemed almost natural that Bitar would journey down the path that led to the Full Tilt Poker’s development.īefore founding Full Tilt, Ray Bitar was no stranger to the poker tables. Bitar’s pre-poker career began at age 16 when he started trading equities on the Pacific Stock Exchange. Ray Bitar founded and ran software company Tiltware which became the parent company of Full Tilt.
Yet Bitar managed to escape serious punishment.Īt the heart of the scandal were allegations that deposits and winnings were used to pay Full Tilt’s board members and owners. He was indicted in 2011 on numerous charges in connection with a nearly $400 million Ponzi scheme the site was accused of running. Ray Bitar was one of the founders and the chief executive officer (CEO) of Full Tilt Poker.