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I'm not sure what exactly your disagreeing with, just that GBT didn't physically have enough cash in the bank to payout players had they wanted to? Doesn't matter really. Yeah they were trying to get a steal of FTP in but its pretty obvious FTP assets aren't worth near what players are owed. Imo the value of these assets will determine victim compensation and its probably no more than 1/3.
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they both did not have the cash to pay out players, and until the last few weeks it was questionable if they ever had the cash to make the deal they were proposing. FWIW I think to different companies FTPs assets have different worth. The worth to pokerstars has to be a great deal more than GBT that might not have any idea how to turn the mess into a profit. Whereas pokerstars is in a position to immediately return the site to a functioning company, which of the staff to keep and which to let go (while also keeping some of these people away from their rivals), while also knowing best how to sell and license the software. Simply put GBT was trying to take a fraction of the companies value (and debt) and leverage it into a windfall in a multibillion dollar industry. Just because they didn't succeed doesn't mean they didn't think the company had more value than that. Remember it was the DOJ that ended that deal, not GBT. I'm pretty sure that GBT only had the fine money to pay the DOJ read to go, and if I remember correctly with the deal they would only have to pay 30 million or so of the fine up front with a longer time frame to pay the last 50 million.
you're kind of comparing apples to oranges here. And IMO we wouldn't really even be considering the GBT offer if FTP's owners hadn't tried to secretly sell the company in order to hide the fraud and embezzlement. If they had owned up to their mistakes in April of last year, opened up the books and put the company on the market I think a sale would have happened fast and players would be paid back. Don't forget these are poker players making these decisions, they have no ****ing clue what they are doing. It would be like throwing you or me at the top of Enron at the end. We'd be ****ing clueless.
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Lets pretend Stars ends up doing what is worst for players, buying FTP assets only and contributing that to the victims fund. Is the negative PR from this really going to threaten their business in a manner that is even close to comparable to keeping FTP software under their control (which is basically what gives them their world wide monopoly). Even if that amount is 1/3-1/4 of what is missing, that would probably be a massive majority of what the victims will receive.
And no stars should DEF not stay out of the works in any case. Imagine what would happen to their almost monopoly of the world market if FTP software fell into some other hands (888/party/etc).
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how is this what is worst for players considering the paragraph you write below? what you're saying in that case is that we'd get more money than we would otherwise. Even though I don't think the DOJ would ever make the deal your implying (it's very similar to the deal they turned down from GBT) it still would be better than nothing.
And lastly look at stars response to the rumors that the deal was dead last night. If they were just jerking players around that would be such negative PR for them they would never do that. Stars didn't get to the top of the industry by being run by morons. They could have squashed these rumors months ago or just stayed out of this whole saga if it could turn a negative light on them. Their intentions are clearly legitimate. It might not work out but it won't be because this was part of a scheme to screw over FTP. FTP is already screwed over.
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And yeah I'm very pessimistic because its been over a year now and there is not even the slightest indication of a good outcome. FTP isnt worth reviving, we cant even sue for the money that was stolen, and this will easily drag on for several more years.
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Listen I'm pessimistic about ever seeing my money too. We're at a stage were we have more positive signs to a resolution than just about any time in the past year, and I still would consider taking .50/$ for my money. But the process itself is now exactly what you would hope it would be. Granted I think we all wish this had gotten started last summer, but now we have the following situation:
1. the company that could best get value from FTP is interested in purchasing it and would gain value both by having the assets as well as creating massive good will in the community they are serving.
2. this same company has incentive to work out a deal in order to get a more lenient fine and sentencing for their own indicted.
3. The DOJ has openly declared us victims, amended indictments against the FTP owners for defrauding players, and has made public that returning player money is a goal in wrapping up this case.
4. both sides have started the process to get various third party lawsuits dismissed so that FTP would be a clean of other claims when the sale is completed. All of the 2p2 law and finance heads posting in NVG agree that this would be a final and important step to completing any deal.
I don't encourage optimism or hope. It won't help you sleep and night and won't get your money back. But pessimism based on a poor understanding of what is happening also doesn't make sense.
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