Raymond Bitar, who is the ex-chief executive officer of Full Tilt Poker, will plead guilty to the criminal charges being leveled against him. Bitar is currently in California, waiting to undergo heart transplant surgery. Full Tilt Poker is no longer in operation as it violated a number of laws and had to be shutdown.
On returning to the U.S, Bitar was arrested by law enforcement at the John F. Kennedy Airport way back in July 2011. One of the main accusations was that Bitar along with 10 other individuals were part of a huge illegal internet gambling racket. Bitar who is believed to be around 40 years old, was also charged with wire fraud, money-laundering offenses and conspiracy that were a direct result of operating Full Tilt Poker.
One of the reasons, why Bitar is going to plead guilty is because he is not in the best of health and is in urgent need of a heart transplant. His lawyer, John F. Baughman, confirmed that his client was in urgent need of a heart transplant and has worked out a plea agreement with federal prosecutors.
In a statement, Mr. Baughman said
It’s a very unusual situation. We’ve been able to work out something with the government that takes into account the unique circumstances. We appreciate the government’s courtesy in this regard.
However, he did not confirm what were the charges that Mr. Bitar might plead guilty to.
Currently, out of the 11 people who have charges against them, 7 have pleaded guilty to the criminal charges that were leveled against them. One of these individuals is Nelson Burtnick, who is the ex-head of payment processing at Full Tilt and PokerStars, which was a rival online-poker site to Full Tilt. Bitar in agreeing to the criminal charges, now becomes the 8th individual to accept the criminal charges.
Prosecutors and law enforcement in the U.S. authorities say that it is alleged that Mr. Bitar cheated players through the process of fraudulent transactions. He made use of their funds to pay for Full Tilt’s operations and ended up making over $430 million in payments to its owners. However, the players at Full Tilt were informed that their funds were being kept in “segregated” accounts. Due to this, Full Tilt defaulted on close to $350 million that was due to its players in the U.S. as well as in other geographic locations.
