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The online gambling industry’s favorite ambulance chaser, attorney Jeff Ifrah, tells eGaming Review Magazine Online that his long time corporate client Full Tilt Poker will likely require a drastic change in management for any future acquisition deals to go through.
Two Full Tilt Poker executives were indicted on April 15 in the US on charges of money laundering and bank fraud. FTP has yet to pay back its US customers. Ifrah represented FTP throughout the period in which they were under investigation by the US Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York.
“Everyone has their eye on that date, nobody wants to come to September 15th and not have a deal which is either finalised or close to finalisation to the point that it can be shared with Alderney and result in the extension of that date,” Ifrah told eGaming Review.
Discussing the future of Full Tilt following any potential investment, Ifrah explained that “The regulator has made its concern about prior management known, and obviously I think that any investor would want to adhere to those concerns and eliminate those concerns.”
“I’m not directly involved in any of those discussions but I assume if everything goes to plan then the announcement will bring not just a new owner and new investor but also an entirely new management team, and I assume that will all be well-coordinated and closely coordinated with the regulators,” he added.
Ifhra, who we suspect is probably one of the few people still getting paid by Full Tilt Poker, has made some acquisitions of his own in recent months following the chaos that ensued post-Black Friday April 15. He began representing one of two men charged with their involvement in the now defunct BetED.com. That company found itself caught up in an elaborate sting operation conducted by the US Attorney’s Office out of Baltimore. They too have failed to pay back customers.
Not all of Ifrah's clients are deadbeats, however. He also acts as legal counsel for PokerStars.com, another company caught up in the indictments of April 15 that paid all of its customers back immediately.
Since the publication of this article, David Parchomchuk, one of two men charged as part of the BetED.com investigation, insists he was just a mere employee on the tech side. Parchomchuk also insists he is not a "deadbeat".
"I'm trying to rebuild my life after my reputation and consulting business has been destroyed by association," Parchomchuk tells us.
- Chris Costigan, Gambling911.com Publisher
