I know routine is banned but I just want to note it is a sad state of affairs when our teenagers think good journalism is letting fly any rumor they hear.

/sarcasm
When people who report on stories with wide reaching effects that potentially have political implications do not do so under a psuedonym on the internets
/sarcasm

I know this question wasn't addressed to me, but if you are interested, this is the scheduling order issued earlier this month:
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BxNS...ZZQUNhLV9lNVk/
You'll see that most of the dates are pretty far off into the future. I think it's safe to say, that at least for purposes of the companies involved in the pending forfeiture and sale, that these dates provide for enough time to sufficiently complete a deal.

As to the duration of meetings etc, while the parties are surely not sitting at the same table facing each other 8 hours/day, I would venture to say the negotiations are now ongoing around the clock, and are not limited to certain shorter periods of time.

Appreciate your interest, but there just isn't much to tell. My professional life has nothing to do with poker or journalism, I was just a casual recreational player. After BF, just like everyone else, I just started asking questions and looking for answers. I have been fortunate enough to make contact with several people that helped with answers and others have come forward to me and provided even more information. Noah hired me to help at S: P and all I am trying to do now is finish what I started, mostly because I think it needs to be done. Nothing that anyone else wouldn't have/couldn't have done, but I admit, it's a much bigger "job" and responsibility than I ever imagined. I too, hope for a successful resolution soon!

Not to sound flippant, but you've pretty much answered your own question.

You really can't even compare, say, the timing of contacts between DOJ and PS, to those between DOJ and GBT, because even those were wildly different situations (e.g., GBT not under indictment).

What I can say is that, generally speaking, what you really get is an awful lot of email traffic between the lawyers for the parties, not to the parties themselves, and they can exchange different drafts of settlement documents for many weeks. In one case I worked, even before the lawyers in the lawsuit were brought in, the in house corporate lawyers exchanged over 20 copies of a single proposed contract, over a period of multiple months. And this was before litigation was even started.

There are multiple agreements involved here...contracts between PS and FTP for the asset purchase itself, settlement agreements, possible plea agreements. This isn't a situtation where all the interested parties are sitting in a conference room for a week until it's ironed out.

The only real deadline here, is an eventual trial date. Sure, various parties have target dates they'd like to close everything by, but the judge doesn't care about that. DOJ doesn't care about Day 1A of the WSOP, and the like. PS and FTP don't give a damn about, say, if the lead prosecutor wants to leave DOJ afterwards, and use this as a feather in his cap for a Biglaw partnership. If it gets done, it will get done when it gets done.

Sorry, the page (or document) you have requested does not exist.

Please check the address and try again.

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0BxN...DZZQUNhLV9lNVk

should work now, sorry 'bout that!

thanks DF. if that's even who you really are

Do you have a journalism degree, or did you go to an Ivy League college for law? Idk how you're articles are so well put together with what seems like no real experience in the area. And obv we all appreciate the work you have done for us.

Wish I was so well written .

Nada. No journalism classes that I ever remember and no legal training of any kind. Just became self taught after reading tens of thousands of pages related to this whole saga. Most of the lawyers that I speak to are kind enough to dumb it down for me when I ask questions, until I "get it", hopefully making it easier for me to tell you.

Thanks a lot for your kind words.

lol, sorry for your pain.

Is there any proof that talks are really happening involving Stars/FTP? Obviously Stars/DOJ talks are happening but I just wondering if the other headline is just a "ghost story." I just don't want to be thinking something may happen sometime and then find out later that FTP/Stars was never even being discussed.

so what is it that is holding up this purported deal this time?

where does "soon" range in between 5 minutes and a chiliad? closer to the first or closer to the second?

We’ve plenty of hearsay and conjecture. Those are kinds of evidence.

Soon could be another year.

shippppp it

can someone tell me what this new google doc implies? it went over my head for the most part, all i saw were dates far in the future

It isn't new, I definitely saw it somewhere weeks ago (probably even here).

Simply stated, it's a case management and scheduling order, which lays out deadlines for various pretrial actions in the case. It is not a substantive document, it does not constittute a ruling of any kind, and the dates, while set in stone by this order, can still be revised upon further motion of, or agreement by, the parties, as long as the judge agrees.

Basically, it's a road map for progress of the litigation.

One section that may be illuminating is the dates regarding discovery, because discovery usually entails the parties incurring sizable costs of document discovery and production, depositions, court reporting/videography, and the like. Often times, a good time to reach a settlement is just prior to the start of extensive discovery, as the parties don't want to expend those costs if they don't have to. Under the Federal Rules, parties have 30 days to respond or object to requests for production of documents Essentially, this makes the timeframe prior to October 5, 2012 a possible milestone date by which to have the matter settled, and really, any day after that, because depositions wouldn't begin until after production of documents, and the costs of deposition prepration, the taking of depositions, expert discovery, etc., can be quite large indeed.

This does not mean whatsoever that the parties aren't trying to settle well ahead of that date. Far from it. However, in the context of asking "how does this scheduling order effect settlement", it really doesn't in any significant way until the discovery service deadlines in early September.

One thing I don't understand is that the day we got to know that GBT got dropped and PokerStars was on the hook many pros and known people tweeted 'something great is happening' blablabla but the NOTHING happened. They all were just bull****ting us or what?

i would trade my meager maney for some prison time for howie and co

and what has all this to do with FT?

sure they bull**** us while gambling up the stolen money!

Because we are the pros inside source?

Yep. This.

I'm tired of hearing people claiming they have a source.

You mean, other than the fact that FT is under indictment and part of the court proceedings?