The lawyer acting on behalf of former Full Tilt CEO Ray Bitar has struck a plea deal with federal prosecutors which could see his client forfeit US$40m in assets but avoid jail time due to a severe heart complaint.
Bitar has been awaiting trial at home in California since last July, after he handed himself into US authorities to face charges contained within the 2011 Black Friday indictments, as well as those in a superseding indictment of defrauding Full Tilt players.
Bitar’s lawyer John F Baughman however told presiding judges in Manhattan that his client had been diagnosed with a chronic heart complaint last November, which requires either a transplant or artificial heart. He also quoted the opinion of Bitar’s surgeon that he had only a 50% chance of surviving the next 6-12 months without the operation, according to Diamond Flush.
Baughman subsequently requested that his client conduct his plea via video link, given Bitar’s health-related inability to travel to New York, and for the judge to then sentence him immediately rather than within the usual 90 days.
Bitar’s lawyer also asked that his client’s plea and sentencing occur ahead of 6 May, when Bitar is due to meet with the transplant unit to find out if he will be placed on an operating list. A potential prison sentence would likely render the former Full Tilt boss ineligible for a heart transplant in the US.
US District Judge Loretta Preska has set a potential date of 19 April for Bitar to enter a guilty plea on two of seven charges contained within the indictments against him. She does not have to accept the plea agreement however.
Bitar would become the eighth of 11 people accused within the Black Friday indictments of bank fraud, money laundering and illegal gambling to enter a guilty plea. PokerStars’ owner Isai Scheinberg and former head of payments Paul Tate are still at large in the eyes of US law enforcement authorities.
Full Tilt re-opened in dot.com poker markets outside of the US last November, after former rival PokerStars acquired its assets and liabilities as part of a US$547m settlement deal with US authorities in July 2012. Stars has already made US$184m owed to Full Tilt’s non-US players available for withdrawal, with the US DOJ recently appointing the Garden City Group to handle the claims of US players, estimated at around US$150m.
Article written by Katy Stirland
