Tapie lawyer Benham Dayanim: Full Tilt takeover is alive

Groupe Bernard Tapie's takeover of Full Tilt Poker is still alive and ongoing, says the group's lawyer, Benham Dayanim. "Substantial hurdles" however still remain before the deal can be closed.

Groupe Bernard Tapie's aspirations to take over Full Tilt Poker are still alive and ongoing, the group's lawyer, Benham Dayanim, has revealed.

The Tapie group has been keeping mostly quiet about the takeover and has only occasionally spoken out to media about its progress, but the investors continue to try and close the deal, Dayanim has told gaming-awards.com.

"That is a very 'live' matter," Dayanim said about the acquisition process.

"We are hopeful that we will be able to get to a conclusion soon, but substantial hurdles remain between now and completion. It will be interesting to see how matters unfold in the next few weeks," he added.

Dayanim did not reveal what these hurdles consist of specifically, but several reports from the past weeks have pointed to a large debt to Full Tilt Poker still owed by a number of pro players.

According to statements made by the Tapie Group las week, a total of 19 pros owe as much as $16.5 million to Full Tilt Poker, including stars like Phil Ivey, Erick Lindgren and David Benyamine.

While the Tapies have said to be in negotiations with many of the indebted players about repayment solutions, the group also emphasized that the missing money constitutes an obstacle to any advancement of their acquisition of the Full Tilt Poker assets.

Groupe Bernard Tapie frontman, Laurent Tapie, however, also expressed his optimism in an interview last week, saying that he hopes for the troubled poker site to be up and running agains "in March."

Meanwhile, rumors on the Two Plus Two forum have reported about increased activity at the Pocket Kings headquarters in Dublin, Ireland.

However, these rumors remain unconfirmed and unbacked by any kind of official statement from Full Tilt Poker or Groupe Bernard Tapie.

Poker.org will continue to follow the case as it develops.

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Comments

serchip72

of Amkar

212

3 months ago

The more close March the is more than articles in this occasion, It is necessary to wait for only two weeks, and all becomes clear. Again will think up a new duck, and it will again be tightened. Who would not like to give such money, therefore I think it will not soon open.

h1span1k

of Dracosul

439

3 months ago

I;m tired of this every day someone say something about full tilt but nothing happens...only small talk..I'm sure that full tilt will be back some day but im tired of all this roumers

ioi

of Poker.org

339

3 months ago

It's not exactly rumors. The cited sources are none other than the people who are buying the establishment.

ProBlackbird

of PokerOwned Sharks

282

3 months ago

I don't mind how long it will take but I do hopefully it reopen soon.

DalsueKillinDonks

of Poker Buddies

3 months ago

I wait day by day, hour by hour, for the return of FTP.
LOL! No I don't miss it that much,, But it was by far the best poker site in history software wise.

loonyone

of Lowrollers Poker

203

3 months ago

That 16.5 million will not be enough to pay back all the players like myself that have funds tied up in this mess... Even if it does reopen I will never play that site again. Pokerstars came away from Black Friday in the best position they paid all the money they owed in a timely fashion and proved you can trust them. As far as UB, AP, and FTP they still have not returned funds to US players. This really hurts the integrity of the online poker community.

billyjustin

3 months ago

I still just get irked when i see them just worrying about the players who owe them, never, or rarely i must say do you ever hear about them paying back the debts owed to us. I ahve cash just sitting there, I have withdrawn, never deposited, and still got money there. But never, NEVER hear about when they are going to pay us back. I swear i remember hearing something about them putting like $200+ million, even maybe more, in a account just to pay the regular guys and gals that played there back. But just don't hear shit about it anymore. Boo FTP, BOO

MIGO14

of PokerOwned Sharks

423

3 months ago

Hopefully they will be able to solve the remaining problems.

Punter4444

of We are ONE

824

3 months ago

FTP deal is biggest news in poker from what ive been reading, and next wud be legislation of Poker for US players. I think both things are moving in the right direction its just a matter of short time for them to happen it wud be good news for all.

nitulbhatia

311

3 months ago

Glad to hear that tapie lawyer says full tilt deal is alive. I hope this deal goes through and online poker gets full tilt poker again :-)

BurntBud

of Swollen Colons

122

3 months ago

March seems awfully close for a relaunch of such a big organization, but who knows I am sure they are paying massive armies of lawyers and programers. The Tapie Group better hurry though everyday they put off relaunch is another day players are joining new functioning sites. Luckily for FT they have one of the best products in the industry with their choice of games, slick platform, as well as traffic galore.

dpkarels

of We are ONE

178

3 months ago

I agree with everyone else that the FTP software was the best. They seemed to always have cool new features too (e.g. Rush poker). Too bad it won't matter for US players if they open up again.

Marvin

of NIT2WINIT

155

3 months ago

Until Everleaf recently closed out US players I was hoping FT would be up operating worldwide again by this summer. Now it looks more likely that Merge and Cake will close out US players in the future. Makes me crazy mad. Another freedom lost. Thanks Barry.

Maybe I should move to Romania.
How's the weather this time of year?