Full Tilt's Burtnick pleads guilty
Indicted director of payments admits to deceiving banks - says "We had to do this type of deception to enable U.S. poker players to load their accounts."
Former Full Tilt Poker director of payments Nelson Burtnick has pleaded guilty to several offences including bank fraud, money laundering and conspiracy to commit unlawful internet gambling, the United States Attorney’s Office has confirmed.
Canadian citizen Burtnick, who held an equivalent role at PokerStars before joining Full Tilt, pleaded guilty before US Magistrate Judge Gabriel W Gorenstein, admitting also to what the USAO has described as “Gambling offenses in connection with a scheme to deceive banks into processing hundreds of millions of dollars of Internet gambling transactions.”
According to various sources, Burtnick told the magistrate “I knew what I did was wrong,” adding that “We had to do this type of deception to enable U.S. poker players to load their accounts.”
The 41-year-old had returned to the United States from his Dublin residence in late July, on the same day that PokerStars’ deal to take over its former rival and to settle overhanging civil charges against the two companies was approved by US authorities.
Burtnick pleaded guilty to “One count of conspiracy to accept funds in connection with unlawful Internet gambling, commit bank fraud, and commit money laundering, and two counts of accepting funds in connection with unlawful Internet gambling.” He will be sentenced by Judge Lewis Kaplan, the same judge who sentenced Black Friday indictees Brent Beckley, Ira Rubin and John Campos, and could face a maximum of 15 years in prison.
One of 11 individuals indicted on Black Friday, Burtnick was named – alongside Full Tilt Poker’s then-CEO Ray Bitar – in a separate superseding indictment two months ago. Bitar pleaded not guilty in a New York court in early July, while Burtnick was bailed after initially entering his own not-guilty plea.
An FBI release explains: “Charges against Bitar are pending. The accusations against him are merely allegations, and he is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.”
Burtnick’s sentiment is comparable to that of Absolute Poker head of payments and fellow Black Friday indictee Brent Beckley, who admitted “I knew that it was illegal to deceive the banks,” when pleading guilty to conspiracy charges in December last year.
Meanwhile Howard Lederer, board member with FTP’s software company Tiltware and among the subjects of the Second Amended Civil Complaint in which he and Bitar are accused of funding the acquisition of properties and automobiles with what were ostensibly player funds, has broken his silence with regards to activities at the operator over the last several years.
Among the subjects covered by Lederer in his serialised interview with Pokernews – recorded before the publication of the Second Amended Complaint – are the decision of the operator to consider serving US customers after UIGEA and the series of emails referenced in the superseding indictment in relation to Bitar and an unnamed co-conspirator.
He was also asked about FTP’s methods of processing payments in the period between the passage of UIGEA and the Black Friday indictment, but was unable to provide significant detail on the matter.