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- Chris Ferguson returns to the WSOP After Five years of hiding
- Was implicated in Full Tilt ponzi scheme though case was later dropped
- Daniel Negreanu refers to Ferguson as “weaselly” following his radio silence that continues to this day
- Negreanu: “And now he (Ferguson) kind of has to apologize for coming back and not saying anything because it’s basically a slap in the face”
Some folks – maybe most folks – aren’t too thrilled with the notion that five time World Series of Poker bracelet winner Chris “Jesus” Ferguson has returned to the WSOP after five years of silence….and he remains silent.
The disgraced poker pro made his first public appearance since being implicated as part of a ponzi scheme tied to Full Tilt Poker back in 2011.
Ferguson along with three other individuals were alleged to have defrauded poker players out of more than $440 million over a four year period as part of a scheme tied to what had been the world’s second largest online poker room, Full Tilt Poker.
Ferguson, an Atheist, was nicknamed “Jesus” for his uncanny resemblance to the “son of God” in the Christian religion, though his resurrection appears to have taken nearly five years, making few appearances since the US Justice Department lodged its complaint.
The case against him was dismissed February 19, 2013. Ferguson has yet to be acquitted in the Court of Public Opinion, however. And this includes one of the poker world’s most vocal players, Daniel Negreanu.
“They needed him to help get the sale done so players could get paid,” Negreanu told PokerListings in regard to a purchase deal with PokerStars that ultimately recovered players funds
“Now he kind of weaselly comes back without saying a word and not acknowledging anything, taking zero responsibility, and now he’s taking pictures with people in the hallway. I would just assume that any human being with a shred of decency would own some of it and at least have some sort of apology.”
“I’d expect that he’d have some remorse but the way he’s handled this, he’s shown none. I don’t know if he’s even sorry because he hasn’t said anything.”
When approached last week, Ferguson just repeated that he was there “to play poker”.
Negreanu continued to express disgust with Ferguson: “You were on the board of directors. You were involved in the company at a very high level. Everyone had responsibility to some degree. Every single person involved,” the six-time WSOP bracelet winner explained. “And to shrug it off like you had no involvement after five years, I’m just shocked.”
And now that Ferguson has waltzed into the Rio (just realized that was actually a pretty good pun – yeah, I watched a lot of poker television back in the day) an apology at this point would be tough to accept.
“It would have to be a really genuine apology to have any meaning,” said Negreanu. And now he kind of has to apologize for coming back and not saying anything because it’s basically a slap in the face. It’s like saying, ‘Hey I robbed all you guys, how you been?’”
- Nagesh Rath, Gambling911.com
