He might not have to pay the money back because of different reasons, but he has an obligation as being a walking billboard for the site to help provide resources or lead the fight against the scum that defrauded the players, including himself. So far, he has done the worst of all: nothing.

Daniel is a cult leader.

Doyle is a racist.

Dwan promised to pay back $1 million but never did.

Try again.

Imo the real people to look up to in poker are the people that nobody talks about as those people don't crave attention. Daniel Alaei, Matt Hawrilenko, sauce, etc. They have been crushing their respective games, seem like incredible class acts, intelligent, etc.

Might be a while before we hear from him, nothing rhymes with Hamilton.

I assume you're trolling but oh well.

Nothing happened. It looks like Brad Booth had absolutely nothing and was just trying to get Hellmuth to react. Bad bluff.

It is like voting for president. You will choose who will F*CK you the least. Or the lesser of two evils...

good statement for me and appreciate it being made. I don't feel he is culpable of anything and if he hadn't posted this then no-one would have said anything. Some 2+2 users cry out for information or statement from the pros and when you get it, you use it as an opportunity to hate. Frustrating.

Tom Dwan totally lied on 2+2 multiple times about the amount of money he owed FTP on BF.

BOOM

I often discuss on twitter with Matthew Stoller if there is a fine line between stupidity and malice.

And TBH, I think that is waning.

Himself

I agree with the idea that PH was using his fame to promote UB and because of this many people were led to slaughter via his fame. Therefore he should be using that same resource in leading the pursuit in getting justice for those he led astray. He has a responsibility to act as a spokesman for those who trusted him with their funds IMO.

1. Push the issue to bring justice upon those involved.
2. Be willing to testify to the truth of what he knows.
3. Use his celebrity to get more people to come forward.

Just a few ideas and there are several more creative ways he can contribute to the people who trusted in him and in return were cheated.

Don't forget he own a big chunk of Iovations

Correct me if I'm mistaken, but I understood that durrrr said he would repay some amount he received from, won on, or owed FT IF if he was asked to in whatever settlement might have come from Black Friday. However, to my knowledge durrrr was never asked to repay anything and if he had sound legal advice he would have been advised not to pay anything to FT or any one of the crooks involved, until an appropriate legal authority asked him to do so. If you were durrrr, would you hand over $1 to FT, Ray Bitar, Rafe Furst or Howard Lederer?

As far as what amount durrrr may have owed FT, that would, and should, have been held in the strictest confidence per and nondisclosure agreement (NDA) he should have had with FT.

We are dumb for thinking that an individual paid millions in stolen funds to use his celebrity status to lead members of a community he has a vested, financial interest in to the chopping block should consider returning those funds? Your comparison of PH to would-be victim players who happened to win is what's dumb.

This is about more than a legal obligation. It's about morality and reputation. The latter should matter more to these guys, but the poker community is entirely too forgiving or ignorant about the manner in which it has been victimized. I hope that changes with the UB documentary etc.

Agree, but....

PH is likely bound by his contract and/or NDA with UB such that he can't legally say anything until and unless some fraud, criminal charges or other illegal activity are proven. Even then, his lawyers would likely advise him to keep his yap shut about any details. His statement ITT is simple PR that worked before....

Besides, who would you have him pay the money to? UB? Pierson? Leggett?
Oh, I know....Annie Duke

I would reiterate that it will be on us, the poker community to out these parasites on a continuing basis. We CAN NOT expect the government or regulators to spend countless dollars and hours trying to keep up with international crime to protect us from our own stupidity. WE need to be the watchdogs responsible for cleaning up this industry.

Travis -

Can you clarify Freddy Deeb's and Annie Duke's role in all of this

There was a lot of stuff said but I don't have any proof so I don't want to say anything I can't prove in writing but money was funneled to a lot of high stake players to keep them in the game or on TV

Just PO's me that Phil is releasing statements through his agent, and through social media means other than his own (much more far-reaching) twitter account, ect.

Why? B/c he's still pulling is $ from books, videos, and other ventures from the casual poker public. Many of those casual poker consumers don't have any idea about the UB scandal, and certainly haven't heard much about this updated news via the audio file. Why run the risk of sullying your name with those sheep? So release it through a venue that the serious players/consumers will find, and the video/apparel/book buying public doesn't have to hear anything further….

Phil making the finals of the NBC Heads Up is good business for him. He's back on TV on a major show. He has to respond, but is doing it in the way that will least affect his business with the American poker community who just was WSOP and WPT shows and still think he's the man.

You guys he was not an employee ffs. He didn't get paid $10/hr to answer emails. He was a founding owner. It doesn't matter if they call the money he got "marketing" for tax purposes. It was a distribution to an owner, period. Think about how much less well known Helmuth would be without UB putting him in every tourney and televised cashgame worldwide.

HE STILL OWNS A LOT OF IOVATION. Russ Hamilton says on the tapes that Iovation would have never existed without the superuser money and Greg Pierson and Iovation's attorney seem to agree and certainly don't dispute it (starting at 2:04:30 in youtube audio clip). So therefore money was stolen in order to directly and/or indirectly fund Iovation.

This is the equivalent of putting 100k your money in a bank (Ultimate Bank) owned by 3 partners. 2 of the partners steal 50k by saying someone used your debit card to drain the account when in fact they did it themselves. They used the stolen money to start another business(a banking debit card security firm called Nonovation) again owned by all 3. You find out they actually stole the money and they say "Well here's 30k of your money back but some of your money was actually taken by someone else" which is a lie. And "1 partner is no longer involved in the bank". The third partner is the one all over the bank's TV commercials. He gets paid 50k for doing 2 tv commercials over the next few years. The also have been paying Nonovation huge fees (say 50k).

For whatever reason you don't remove the money from the bank and 4 years later it is found that the bank has no assets and no money left but Nonovation is a healthy well-funded company.

In this case would you believe the third partner owes you nothing because he didn't know about the theft, and his marketing was as an "employee"? Oh and also his shares and income from Nonovation have nothing to do with the bank.

If so congrats you're a idiot and a mark, just like all those in this thread who think Helmuth owes nothing back.

Many posters seem to believe that these alleged non-disclosure agreements have some meaning now. First, any agreements were signed between P.H. and the legal entities involved (UB etc). Those agreements couldn't be enforced by individuals like Russ Hamilton only those entities (most of which no longer exist).

More importantly, any non-disclosure agreements were probably never binding as they were signed with entities that were engaging in illegal actions as a regular course of business (ie. online poker in U.S.). Further, no non-disclosure agreement can bar a person from reporting criminal activity (the cheating and other fraud) and there do not need to be criminal charges already filed to allow the person to release information regarding that criminal activity.

Anyone who believes that P.H. and A.D. or other insiders cannot speak out because of NDA's is mistaken (regardless of whether these people claim that they are bound by such agreements).

As usual, people care less about the ones that actually committed the crime than the ones around those people. Until you can prove Phil had a hand in this he shouldnt have to give up a dime.

99.99% of you crying about Phil giving money back would NOT do the same if you were in Phils shoes right now....stop the hypocrisy.

Well this certainly is a load off of my mind...NOT

AMEN!