Chris Ferguson May Be Close to Settling With the DOJ

According to reports that have surfaced today, it appears that Full Tilt Poker board member and 2000 World Series of Poker Main Event Champion Chris Ferguson could be close to a settlement with the United States Department of Justice regarding his role with Full Tilt Poker.

Ferguson is one of the Full Tilt board members that was added to the DOJ’s case against Full Tilt, PokerStars, and Absolute Poker back in 2011. Both Rafe Furst and Howard Lederer both have settled their case and a new document filed by the DOJ points to Ferguson being the next to settle.

US District Judge Kima Wood has granted the an extension in answering Ferguson’s motion to dismiss the charges against him. He was included on Lederer’s motion, but that motion was converted to a sole motion for Ferguson on December 18th, 2012.

The government will now have until February 18th, 2013 to answer the motion. The last paragraph of the document could be the most telling in the matter as it states that “…counsel for the Government and counsel for the defendant Ferguson have engaged in extensive settlement conversations.”

While an agreement has not been reached by the two parties, one can assume that we will hear more leading up to the February 18th deadline. Should Ferguson settle, the only Full Tilt board member that would need to resolve the lawsuit is Ray Bitar. He has been serving house arrest in California since turning himself in last Summer.