I get that all these things take time, but at what point in time (if any) do you anticipate there to actually be a real timeline publicly released about how the future events will unfold? Are the involved parties going to do everything behind the scenes all the way up until the site reopens with no warning or will there ever be an announcement that comes with a road map for going forward?

I think a lot of people are not necessarily craving their money immediately as much as an official statement that discusses when and how they will get it even if it is in two months and even if it takes a few partial payments. It'd just be nice not to wait on pins and needles for every new announcement that just leaves us waiting for the next. I get that they may not actually know the details going forward, but I am sure they know a lot more than they are letting go public for now. Curious your thoughts..

^ big +1

None of these things have been negotiated or even agreed on.

How can you release a statement about something you havent even discussed in a deal yet?

It's not so such the time that was available, it didn't matter very much, since the money was not there to pay people.
We use the figure of $150 million because we do not know exactly. It could be slightly more or less.
BTW, I would qualify your notation of "max", aside from ROW player account balances as a liability accepted by GBT, they are paying the DOJ USD 80 million, in addition to all costs already incurred, (easily millions), licensing fees, start up costs, promotions, etc etc.
(As to the ~ $30-40 million in question, GBT will be attemting to receive access to these bank accounts after they purchase the assets. There will still be an $80 million check written to the DOJ.)

Can someone tell me where they're going to get the money to cover all the phantom deposits? Do they know which accounts might have money in them, but are still in the red?

The shareholder vote was definitely the thing that worried me the most for a while. It was a big relief when that finally happened.

I can't think of a biggest hurdle right now. I mean.. I haven't seen the formal documents, but I assume that all three parties have retained the ability to back out in some form or another, so there's obviously that fear. There's also the question of how repayment would actually happen once everything gets set up, which I really don't understand at all, and AFAIK that really hasn't been sorted out yet.

Some departments have been working this whole time (e.g. they've been working on the software). Others haven't been doing crap, partially because the servers are down and partially because the management at FTP is ******ed and petty and literally told people to stop doing productive things. (For example, the CS department, most of whom don't know any poker, were learning the basics of the various games, under the assumption that that sort of knowledge would help them answer some e-mails that they otherwise would have to forward. Someone told them to stop doing that because it leaked on the forums that "employees were playing poker when they should be working," so after that they were basically sleeping or watching movies or whatever.) Keep in mind as well that a lot of people were fired a couple months ago, so there isn't the huge staff that there used to be.

GBT has definitely been a part of running things for the past three months or so. I don't think things can really resume in earnest until the smoke has cleared, though. There are just so many moving pieces that I think there's a lot of risk associated with making something else move.

So will we get our money from full tilt or doj?

Awesome news, one step closer!

Thanks!

I'm not going to qualify which hurdle might be considered the biggest, but to be sure, this one was never a given until it was inked, so yes this is HUGE. To be fair, that fact that DOJ agreed to spend so much time even discussing such things with either party was also big. Each hurdle to be jumped now is just as important really, because without each step happening, the prior ones don't help us much. I really do have a good feeling that, barring some really big unforeseen matter coming to light, this puts us a lot closer to the finish line than ever. One step at a time.

As for Tapie, I think he has been, and will continue to be, working side by side with whomever at FTP can help this move forward. He may be talking to potential employees, but its probably slightly premature to speculate to what extent. He certainly want this to move forward as much as anyone else, that much is clear.
I think we may know more about this in the coming weeks, its just too early to guess right now.

+1

You can be sure that you will have some of that info prior to the relaunch of the new company. Especially for ROW players, GBT wants your business, and I wouldn't be surprised if there are some pretty cool incentives in the queue when the time comes. (Total speculation)
I don't think all the particulars have even been worked out, but I am quite sure they are being discussed as we speak.
I could make a guess of several weeks after the New Year for more concrete info on this, but please understand that is only my guess. As soon as there is definitive info to share, no one will be holding back on letting you know!

Here's the problem with a timeline:

1) This is not a transaction between three happy groups of people who all love each other and act in concert. There's naturally a lot of suspicion. Nobody wants to set a timeline and then get blamed when somebody else breaks it.

2) It's not clear that the three parties could agree on a timeline. Though they have agreed to some private timelines in the past, those have been the result of negotiations, and it's definitely the case that different parties feel that different timelines are feasible. (I don't think that anyone is stalling, but I do think that some parties want more time for certain steps.)

3) This is going to be misinterpreted, but whatever. An important corollary to Murphy's Law is that no timeline is ever met. If they set a timeline, they probably won't meet it. That's not because people are dragging their feet, but rather because something unexpected always happens and unexpected things always slow stuff down. There have been lots of privately agreed-to timelines, and I don't know if a single date has actually been met. If the groups had stated on those publicly (or SP had reported the ones that we knew about), people would have been teased. That sucks.

4) I personally believe that players have a right to a reasonable estimated timeline if one exists (and if I'd ever believed that one existed, I would have reported it). I believe this for the simple reason that I know that people have a lot of money at stake. Some people are moving or walking out on their mortgages or asking their kids to go to cheaper colleges or stopping child support payments, etc, because they don't have access to that money, and I think that they deserve the best information possible about the status of that money so that they can plan their lives accordingly.

However, there is an obvious counter-argument to this, and it's quite a strong one: If players are told a timeline and then something falls through, that will be a pretty huge tragedy. People will have based their lives on the expectation of having a certain amount of money at a certain time, and they'll have been wrong. If players aren't told some timeline and that timeline turns out to have been accurate--well, players will have their money in their pockets anyway.

5) Regardless of moral arguments, it's certainly the case that no party has incentive to promise a timeline because the only possible results for them in the longrun are a) things go as planned and nobody cares that they released a timeline or b) things don't go as planned and people are furious that they were wrong.

If FTP reopens I hope they pay everybody back and then hit the reset button. I want a new screen name.

Great good news.

I am quite sure that if you created an account in the US sending FTP documents confirming your residency e.g. driving license and bank statement you are considered US citizen by FTP and will be in the DOJ part of the deal.
If I were you I would try to contact FTP proving your nationality as soon as you can. I was in the same situation but managed to change all the details (continue playing) after black Friday, but before the site went down.

HELLS to the YEAH!! CHEERS!!!!! Now I hope the DOJ payout portion isn't overly painful and goes smooth...weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

fk yeah! bout time for good news!

I cant wait to be playing against animated bimbos and ninjas again. Seriously though was the best software without a doubt. Obviously will keep bankroll to a minimum but I dont think I would boycott the site if players are treated the right way once they return

How much time is it expected to take for the assets to be moved to DOJ and then to GBT? Is this a heavy procedure, or should it happen smoothly?

Yup

Should be pretty quick IMO.

The two agreements were devised to stop the actual legal (with courtroom) forfeiture so should be a case of getting the already agreed docs signed up.

Can't see the DoJ dragging their feet with $80m on the table

Definitely one step closer, I'm just hopping the (legal) walk is over soon

Ah the old convicted match fixer and tax fraudster Tapie himself, definitely will solve all problems!