Poker Scene News and Rumors

<img src="http://www.liquidpoker.net/staff/Raidern/news_and_rumors.jpg" align="right" style="margin:5px; border:1px solid black;">new info on professionals from FTP owe money to the poker room

Just a few days ago we reported that Behnam Dayanim, an attorney for Groupe Bernard Tapie, revealed that some professional poker players still owe substancial amounts of money to Full Tilt Poker. Among these players are Phil Ivey, Layne Flack, David Benyamine, Erick Lindgren, Barry Greenstein, Mike Matusow and others. According to Card Player, Ivey and Lindgren both owe $4 million to the site, while Benyamine and Flack owe $2 million apiece. Matusow and Greenstein owe less. Greenstein admitted to borrowing $400,000 from FTP (to play on the room) a few years ago and said that he has been contacted by GBT, but he has concerns on whether or not the money would be used to pay back US players.

Now, in an interview with iGamingFrance, Laurent Tapie confirmed those reports and said that 19 players owe FTP around $16.5 million. "As written . . . the argument of the players who say ‘we will refund if the money goes to the players’ is misleading, since they know very well that the players will be refunded only if GBT goes all the way with the takeover, and for that to happen it is necessary that the bulk of money owed by the pros returns to Full Tilt.

Otherwise GBT will have to make up the shortfall, generating an additional cost to the overall operation that GBT is not willing to take on, especially as the financial position of Full Tilt, as it appears following the audit, is actually worse than expected," Tapie said.

Laurent Tapie added that GBT attempted to contact the 19 players and some have immediately called back and are willing to work on a repayment plan to clear their debts.



Police recovers half of Duhamel's stolen money

Late last year WSOP Champion Jonathan Duhamel had his home robbed by two armed men. The robbers left the place with approximately $115,000, his WSOP Main Event bracelet and a Rolex. All the people involved in the robbery are now arrested, and the most recent news is that a good chunk of the stolen money has been recovered.

Thanks to an anonymous tip, the local police was able to find the money in a mail box. It was easy to identify because most of it was in the same denominations and currency as the stolen money. The Rolex had already been recovered, as it was being worn by one of the robbers, thus the only thing missing is the WSOP bracelet.

Anthony Bourque, Andre-Robert Perron, John Clark and Bianca Rojas-Latraverse are facing several charges in relation to the home invasion, including robbery, assault, kidnapping and conspiracy. They will appear before the court on February 21.

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Why do those guys think they have a say in what should happen with the money? They owe the money ffs.

same opinion as Nazgul, they owe the money to company thats still there, those excuses and avoiding paying is pathethic.

Agree with the above its beyond believe.