Ray Bitar in Federal Custody – PokerStars Deal Imminent?
Two things became apparent to the poker world on Monday. The first is that the deal between Full Tilt and PokerStars is in advanced stages and that Ray Bitar is going to become the likely fall guy for Full Tilt Poker.
Ray Bitar has returned to the United States and surrendered himself on Monday to the FBI as part of PokerStars’ deal with the US Department of Justice to purchase Full Tilt Poker. In addition, Bitar has confirmed that PokerStars is working on a deal in an email to his Dublin staff. In addition, PokerStars has agreed to pay Pocket Kings staff for July.
An email has been floating around the poker community today that is from Bitar to his staff. That email is below:
To all Dublin Staff,
By now you probably have heard that I have returned to the US to deal with civil and criminal case that are pending against me in New York. We have all worked hard over the last 15 months to preserve Full Tilt’s assets and potential in order to provide for the repayment of all players, and that continues to be our top priority. It is as important as ever that we all do everything possible to make that happen and, hopefully our deal with Poker Stars will very soon make our goal a reality. My return to the US is part of this process.
I am particularly grateful to all of you here in Dublin for your hard work, patience and understanding during this difficult time. I believe that your hard work and dedication should not go unrecognized, and we have made arrangements for Poker Stars to guarantee all July salaries. You should therefore have no concern about coming to work during this period. After that, we expect that your employment contracts will be assumed by the buyer of the company’s assets.
For those that need to reach me, I expect to continue to be available by email and phone starting late Monday, New York time.
In the meantime, please refer any operational questions to **REDACTED**, and any HR questions to **REDACTED**.
Thank you all again.
Kind regards,
Raymond J Bitar
Little more is known at this time regarding the deal but it looks as if Bitar’s surrender will bring about the purchase of the company sooner rather than later. We will keep you informed on this story as more details arise.