Manne wrote:
A group of European investors have agreed to buy a majority stake in Pocket Kings Ltd., an Irish company that owns Full Tilt, one of the world's most popular Web poker sites at the center of a U.S. government crackdown of online poker, according to two people with knowledge of the situation.
These people, who are associated with Full Tilt, said the investment would be large enough to cover the roughly $150 million that the poker site owes U.S. poker players following the U.S. crackdown.
The people declined to provide details about the investors or the size of the investment.
The company's U.S. website was shut down in April when the U.S. Justice Department accused executives at Full Tilt and other online poker sites of bank fraud, running illegal gambling operations and other offenses. Indictments were issued against executives for Full Tilt and other sites.
Fill Tilt executives expect the investment will be enough to cover a hoped-for settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice for a civil lawsuit that could cost hundreds of millions of dollars, the people associated with the site said. A spokesman at the Justice Department couldn't immediately be reached. A spokeswoman for Full Tilt couldn't immediately be reached.
The Los Angeles Times on Thursday night reported that the deal had been reached.
The deal is still tentative and isn't expected to be closed for at least three weeks, the people associated with the company said. The investors want to be sure that Fill Tilt can reach a settlement with the U.S. government before completing the investment, the people said.
The Justice Department, which contends that online poker is illegal in the U.S. under several federal and state laws, filed a civil lawsuit against the sites, seeking at least $3 billion in civil money-laundering penalties and forfeiture. As part of that action, the agency stopped the sites from taking bets from players in the U.S. and also froze the funds in bank accounts associated with the companies. Full Tilt hasn't paid back those players yet, according to the people with knowledge of the matter.
Full Tilt and the other poker sites that had accepted U.S. bets have denied any wrongdoing, arguing that the U.S. laws covering online gambling aren't clear.
The investors also hope to reach an agreement with gambling regulators in Alderney, which is part of Britain's Channel Islands and where Full Tilt is licensed, the people familiar with the matter said.
On Wednesday the Alderney Gambling Control Commission in an abrupt move, ordered that Full Tilt's world-wide operations to be shut pending a hearing in July about the company's legal troubles in the U.S.
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2011/07/05
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Got a late call earlier today and wanted to make sure you dont run into any problems registering.