Full Tilt Financial Problems Worse than Expected Per GBT

Months ago, an announcement was made that Groupe Bernard Tapie had entered into an acquisition agreement with Full Tilt Poker pending US Department of Justice approval. In November, there was word that an agreement in principle had been made with the DOJ that would allow the company to finalize the deal. Now, it appears that GBT may be backing out of that deal based on details recently uncovered regarding Full Tilt’s liabilities.

According to reports, Full Tilt Poker is apparently owed between $10 and $20 Million in player loans given to a group of players that includes Barry Greenstein, Phil Ivey, Mike Matusow, and Erick Lindgren. Amounts for these loans were not given in reports, but Barry Greenstein stepped forward and was very public about how much is owed from him.

Greenstein told followers at 2+2 forums that he had borrowed around $400,000 to play on Full Tilt Poker before PokerStars incorporated high stakes tables. Greenstein never repaid that debt because he thought that others that owed him money would pay him on Full Tilt and he would repay that money. Of that original debt, Greenstein claims to owe just $150,000 and is willing to repay the money at some point.

According to Behnam Dayanim, Greenstein is in the minority of players willing to repay their debts. Per reports, Dayanim claims that most of the pros are not willing to take care of their obligations and GBT considers this a major issue.

However, the player debts are not the only potential issue holding up the sale. Without going into details, Dayanim has reported that other liabilities owed by Full Tilt that are not related to repayment of player funds could hold up the sale. The player loans are indeed part of those liabilities, but according to Dayanim, “The diligence has revealed that the financial position is worse than we had anticipated.”

Dayamin has also been quoted as saying that if these bevy of matters are not cleared up, then there is no way that the sale of Full Tilt can proceed. Dayamin said that while a final decision has not been made as of yet, a decision to go or not go will be made once the due diligence process has been completed.

What does all this mean? At the moment, it could just be extra wrangling by GBT to invest as little as possible. Then again, it could be the warning signs that the deal is going to be a no go. If that happens, this will put the final nail in the Full Tilt coffin and likely leave its players without recourse for repayment.

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