i think bots were caught at some pt right? i'd assume there were tons more that didn't get caught. i'd be really surprised if the software wasnt random and there were any superusers etc, id put it at about 1% to make a rando guess(and would've said way way under before i learned about the hole in player funds)

i really don't think there was intended theft. that said clearly ftp freerolled people, this was probably ray's doing and howard and chris very likely knew something about it as well. freerolling isn't quite as bad as outright theft, but its pretty ***** close, and pretty terrible imo. ur last question didnt really make sense wanna rephrase? (wt case etc?)

ya i mean i'd love to know about this. i'm in a position to be able to use that info pretty well imo. text me?

edit: if by 'knew' about the doj action u mean had a strong suspicion it'd happen at some pt in 2011 or w/e thats not really new news, but if u mean "sometime in mid-late april" that'd be pretty huge. I'd be really surprised to learn about that though.

ty that's a really really good point.

i would be. i really suspect a lot of the owners weren't. thats pretty ridiculous of them, but it was a very unique situation. the more and more i think about it the more likely it seems the management all had a decent picture of the situation, but im still not 100% convinced of this, although even if they didn't know they were extremely negligent.

i can't answer any particular's about that audit sry- im still under nda and its not my $$ at risk (its their's and they're way richer). u should be able to answer most of ur questions from the doj statement.

how often the board was reading the accounting is a big question. it'd be pretty ridiculous if it wasn't at least monthly- but then again it'd be pretty ridiculous to act like they did if they were getting monthly updates.

the biggest failure was not owning up to their earlier mistake. they could've shored up the hole pretty easily, although it probably would've cost the ceo and cfo their jobs (among maybe others). they decided to keep their jobs, and try to keep everyone happy by gambling it up with player funds. its not like the usa all the sudden outlawed toothpaste to put colgate out of business- people knew black friday was a very legitimate possibility, and it should've been planned for.

once i started talking on 2p2 i obviously can't really get any new info unless i happen to know the investor or an associate separately from ftp, and i don't even know who it is or what group it is. 1timeeeeeee?

i think there's a lot of ways i could help facilitate a potential deal. i'd be happy to guarantee quite a bit of the iou's players have to ftp- and if it was a close enough thing where someone had 90% of the money i could also help try to find people to close the deal. unfortunately ftp is handling this how most businesses handle hard times and not being transparent enough, forgetting that a few people on their team have quite a few friends with tons of money (obviously all of these people have been at least somewhat approached) who while probably not going to do the deal outright, could be able to give a favor or two to help it close. if any investor reads this hit me up lol.

edit: to stop the trolls before they start- im not actually gonna respond to ppl pming me about a possible deal. if u know someone who might be interested u should be able to find my cell somehow.

Once again, Tom responded to some of your questions PM, so I'll be posting those questions with Tom's answer here for everyone.

Q: Do you know anything about the current investors/deal, and if so, what can you tell us?

Tom's A: --- dunno anything lately haven't gotten much info (not surprisingly)

Q: At what point were Ferguson/Bitar/Lederer aware of the extent of the "hole" in the funds? What decisions did they make, if any, to try to rectify the situation? Before or after BF?

Tom's A: --- obviously at least 1 of them must have known beforehand. it seems likely all did, but im not sure. the doj statement pretty clearly shows that they didn't make some decisions they really should have to try and rectify the situation pre-black friday. after i think they all tried, but mistakenly overvalued the company. it definitely was worth a lot, and possibly as much as the 'consensus' seemed to think in better times, but in a liquidity crunch after black friday they should've been more willing to firesale for simply the doj liability and full player funds.

Q: What role did "smaller" pros like Jen Harmon have? Were any of them aware of what was going on with FTP financially?

Tom's A: --- i dunno, im learning more and more about working of ftp all the time, id assume none knew about the whole being anywhere near as bad as it was, and theres a few i talked to that i was very convinced didn't know. I should have a better answer to this question in a few days/weeks i hope.

Q: Do you know anything about the money raised in various charity efforts like Haiti and Japan? Did the money go to the agencies it was supposed to go to?

Tom's A: --- god i hope so. was a pretty big amount should be easy to check with the red cross or someone and try and get a rough guess if they got what they were supposed to. i really hope so

Q: If FTP comes back under new management relatively soon, what relationship will you have with the company? Does that depend on who buys FTP? Under what circumstances would you stay with FTP as a pro, and at what point would you sever ties with them completely?

Tom's A: --- i've already severed all ties. i'll still do what i can to get people paid, and in the hypothetical chance where a new investor came and ran the company in a very transparent way (and let an outside company audit the player funds) i'd consider re-joining.

if it was only on my own $$ i would've done that long ago. its 3 friends who'd be at risk who have way more $$ than i could cover so i need to honor the agreement i made with them and not repeat any information that i only learned from that source. most information i learned from that is already public b/c of doj. cant risk putting ppl who've done nothing but try to help in a bad situation.

i don't think i should comment too much about the ongoing deal with the french group. also i don't know much more than was in the press releases. i will say that obviously no-one would buy ftp without talking to the doj (in case the doj decided to say 'no, we want 1b$ and not a penny less), so that clause shouldn't be worrying at all

yes i'd think it should be, but i don't think this is fair to do unless its pretty certain ftp isn't paying out. i think owners are fair game atm

no, if i had asked those questions and evaluated etc i wouldn't be paying $$ back if they don't pay. the reason i think i owe that money is because i was naive enough to not ask those questions. i did discuss them some after signing, but i was obviously in a way less powerful position to demand answers.

pretty sure the guy isn't a poker player- not 100% tho.

i don't currently consider myself to have any affiliation with ftp. If i was convinced that ftp would get audited and have player funds segregated its possible i would consider to be affiliated, but i would do whatever deal was in my best interests. If that wasn't with ftp i'd still be happy to give advice etc. obv. I still am friendly with some people in ftp, and am obviously trying to do anything i can to help facilitate a deal.