Tiltware board members chase civil complaint dismissal
Howard Lederer, Chris Ferguson and Rafe Furst make separate filings, while Telamonian Ajax Trust calls for dismissal of claims for relief.
Tiltware board members Howard Lederer, Chris Ferguson and Rafe Furst have filed motions to dismiss last September’s amended civil complaint, in which they were accused of receiving hundreds of millions of dollars in funds held in player accounts with parent company Full Tilt Poker (FTP)
The trio, along with CEO Ray Bitar and a number of other shareholders, were alleged to have received distributions totalling more than US$400m, with Ferguson being awarded the highest amount of those named.
Both Furst and Ferguson have joined Lederer’s memorandum in support of the motion, which goes into more detail about reasons for dismissing the amended complaint. Meanwhile a fourth party, the Telamonian Ajax Trust (which is understood to have ties to Furst) has called for the dismissal of counts one and four of the complaint.
As well as addressing allegations levelled at them specifically, the trio contest whether Full Tilt’s actions constitute a violation of the Illegal Gambling Business Act (IGBA) or indeed whether IGBA applies to FTP’s activities whatsoever. They also call for the dismissal of in rem claims for the seizure of bank accounts named in the complaint.
Lederer’s memorandum, signed by his attorneys from California-based firm Keker and van Nest, suggest “Although the government alleges that Lederer participated in a scheme to defraud FTP’s customers, specific factual allegations against him are nowhere to be found.
“The only specific factual allegations against Lederer are that he co-founded FTP and helped build it into a successful business, and that he received distributions as part-owner of the company. These allegations fail to state a fraud claim “ or any claim “ against Lederer,” it continues.
Lederer’s lawyers also note that the one allegation of wire fraud to which Lederer is attached concerns alleged false statements about player funds being held in segregated accounts, statements which the government claims originated with “Bitar and Lederer” but fails to identify “Who allegedly made the statement at issue, and to whom it was directed”.
The memorandum claims that: “The single statement implicating Lederer in the First Amended Complaint is insufficient…because it fails to identify the speaker, specify the precise statement at issue, and support an inference of fraudulent intent.”
Ferguson’s motion is along similar lines, with his supporting memorandum noting that “In 90 paragraphs of factual allegations Mr. Ferguson is mentioned only once and then it is only in reference to distributions from Full Tilt. Nowhere does the complaint allege that Mr. Ferguson was involved in the management of the company…”
Meanwhile, in Furst’s memorandum, it is claimed that: “The allegations against Mr. Furst are even more sparse than those against Mr. Lederer, and do not make out the necessary elements of a claim for money laundering penalties under any theory.”
The claims from the Tiltware board members are unrelated to the ongoing criminal case against Bitar and FTP head of payments Nelson Burtnick, for which a superseding indictment was unsealed last week. Bitar was released on bail last night, having returned to the United States for the first time in over a year and surrendered to US authorities. He pleads not guilty to all charges.