Full Tilt Poker Founder Ray Bitar Arrested by Feds

Raymond Bitar, Executive of now defunct Full Tilt Poker, has been arrested by federal authorities in the US after turning himself in.

Bitar and about a dozen other men were charged in April 15, 2011 with money laundering and bank fraud in connection with running Full Tilt Poker, at the time the second largest Internet poker venue. 

Bitar, who is from southern California, remained in Ireland, where Full Tilt Poker was headquartered, ever since he was indicted in the federal crackdown on the U.S. online poker industry last year, according to Forbes.com.

From Forbes.com:

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan have also filed a superseding indictment against Bitar detailing fresh allegations regarding Bitar’s alleged efforts to conceal Full Tilt’s cash crunch following the Aprill 2011 crackdown on online poker. Preet Bharara, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan, has said that Full Tilt was operating like Ponzi scheme.

According to federal prosecutors in Manhattan, Bitar misled Full Tilt’s customers about the reason Full Tilt could not repay U.S. players their money after the federal government effectively shut down the web site. Full Tilt told U.S. players in a press release it was limited by “legal and jurisdictional issues,” but Bitar knew the real reason was that players’ money had been spent by the company and distributed to its owners, the new legal filing says. The feds point to the $60 million Full Tilt had on hand, while owing $390 million to players around the world on March 31, 2011.

The founder of PokerStars, also indicted at the same time as Bitar, remains at large.

- Chris Costigan, Gambling911.com Publisher