Burtnick bailed upon US return
Former Full Tilt Poker director of payments has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.
Former Full Tilt Poker director of payments Nelson Burtnick has been released on US$500,000 bail after returning to the United States and surrendering to authorities yesterday, within hours of the confirmation of PokerStars’ deal to acquire its former rival.
Burtnick has pleaded not guilty to the charges brought against him and Full Tilt CEO Ray Bitar in last month’s superseding indictment, with 11 counts including money laundering conspiracy and conspiracy to violate UIGEA brought against the pair. Burtnick’s bail amount, confirmed by BusinessWeek, is just one fifth of the $2.5m paid by Bitar.
July’s indictment saw Bitar and Burtnick alleged to have “conspired with others to deceive United States banks and financial institutions into processing hundreds of millions of dollars for Full Tilt Poker by, among other things, arranging for money from United States gamblers to be disguised as payments to numerous non-existent online merchants and other non-gambling businesses”.
The two former Full Tilt executives, along with Tiltware board members Howard Lederer, Chris Ferguson and Rafe Furst, have been precluded from future involvement with PokerStars following the company’s acquisition of Full Tilt yesterday, a deal which has settled civil complaints against the two operators but notably not against those individuals named in last September’s first amended civil complaint.
Full Tilt is planning to relaunch in selected markets in approximately 90 days’ time, with PokerStars in discussions with regulatory authorities on the Isle of Man with regards to licensing.
Burtnick’s return to the US means just three of the 11 individuals indicted on Black Friday are yet to appear before an American court with regard to the criminal charges against them: PokerStars founder Isai Scheinberg – who will relieve himself of all directorial duties at PokerStars following the unrelated civil settlement – PokerStars head of payments Paul Tate, and Absolute Poker co-founder Scott Tom.
To date, just three of the Black Friday indictees have been sentenced: former banker John Campos was sentenced to three months and banned from ever again serving as a director of a bank or financial institution, while Absolute Poker head of payments Brent Beckley was sentenced to 14 months in prison and payment processor Ira Rubin was last week given a three-year sentence.
Three more payment processors, Bradley Franzen, Ryan Lang and Chad Elie, have all entered guilty pleas and await sentencing.
As with Bitar’s return to the country earlier last month, developments concerning criminal charges against Burtnick are understood to have had no bearing whatsoever on the progress of the civil proceedings against the poker companies and related individuals.