Full Tilt Poker Scandal Phil Ivey
The 2000s were driven by enthusiasm for Full Tilt poker. It became an ideal hub for playing real money games. The progress it saw in successive years was huge, and this comes from the fact that it was pioneered by the trio of renowned professionals in the business: Chris Ferguson, Howard Lederer and Phil Ivey. Considered the best poker player in the world by most experts, Ivey was a regular at the nosebleed cash game tables on Full Tilt poker before it closed its doors to US players on April 15th 2011. No disrespect to Phil Hellmuth, a true poker legend, but it’s actually Phil Ivey who best compares to NFL superstar Tom Brady. Poker fans on social media recently shared a meme comparing the “Poker. Full Tilt Poker was the coolest place to play online poker for a very long time and featured some of the snappiest advertising in the world to make it that way. They had Phil Ivey when ‘Stars. One of the biggest stories to emerge from this year’s WSOP was Phil Ivey’s decision to boycott the WSOP 2011 and to sue Full Tilt for damages that can go up to as much as $150 million. Ivey posted on his website a lengthy statement condemning Full Tilt for the slowness in which it is facilitating player refunds.
One of the biggest stories to emerge from this year’s WSOP was Phil Ivey’s decision to boycott the WSOP 2011 and to sue Full Tilt for damages that can go up to as much as $150 million. Ivey posted on his website a lengthy statement condemning Full Tilt for the slowness in which it is facilitating player refunds. Full Tilt Poker, however, would not take this one lying down, and issued its own statement in the matter – quite convincingly, might I add.
Phil Ivey’s Law Suit
In an announcement that shocked the entire industry, Ivey broke his long silence about the Black Friday incident. However, instead of asking people to cut Full Tilt some slack like a good Full Tilt pro would have done, Ivey went on to lambast the company, saying that he was ‘disgusted’ at how Full Tilt was treating its American players. He claimed that his name was ‘dragged through mud’ and that he’s “embarrassed” by Full Tilt’s actions. He says he’s not going to play at the WSOP because it seems unfair that others will not be able to do so because of Full Tilt’s ineptitude in facilitating the refunds. The community’s reaction to Ivey’s statement was pretty much mixed. Others admired him for it, while others called it self-serving. Full Tilt, of course, is first to think that the latter is true.
Self-serving, says Full Tilt
Full Tilt, as you may know, owes $150 million to the American players, and it’s doing pretty much everything it can just so that amount gets paid. But then, Ivey’s seeking to gain $150 million worth of damages through his lawsuit. Slap me if I’m the only one seeing the irony here. Either way, Full Tilt’s statement called Ivey’s statement “sanctimonious”, and said that it’s about helping just one player – himself. They say that Ivey’s only trying to build his wealth even further at the expense of others. Also, Full Tilt warned that if the lawsuit does get to see the light of a court room, then they certainly are looking forward to presenting facts that prove their point. Other poker pros in the industry are also of the same opinion and are thinking that Ivey’s just trying to distance himself from Full Tilt and that he’s not really helping anyone with all this drama of his.
Indeed, things could get really messy from this point on – not to mention interesting. It’s hard to imagine how all this would have happened a few months ago.
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In November 2011, Luciaetta Ivey filed a petition with the Nevada Supreme Court after she discovered her husband, poker pro Phil Ivey, had contributed $5,000 to the campaign of Family Court Judge Bill Gonzalez, the judge assigned to their 2009 divorce case.
Phil Ivey answered that petition with a response filed in December, laying out details surrounding the divorce settlement. Now, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Ivey’s wife is unhappy with the settlement.
In a new document filed with the Nevada Supreme Court on Tuesday, Dec. 27, 2011, Luciaetta Ivey 'has attempted only to secure information to confirm that she received a fair settlement.'
Part of that information was for Phil Ivey to produce documents to the court showing his income from Tiltware, a company of the online poker siteFull Tilt Poker, had ceased.
According to those documents, he received approximately $920,000 a month 'from his passive interest in the company which was indisputably acquired during the marriage.”
Married in Las Vegas on May 19, 2002, the Iveys' divorce turned bitter after Luciaetta Ivey discovered her ex-husband’s campaign contribution, inspiring her to seek Gonzalez’s disqualification from the sealed divorce case, a request that was denied by Chief District Judge Jennifer Togliatti.
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Luciaetta Ivey then took the matter to the Supreme Court, who ruled that she had raised issues of 'arguable merit” and gave her ex-husband 30 days to respond.
'At the time Phil made his campaign contribution, Judge Gonzalez did have jurisdiction over this matter even though the case was 'closed,' ' Luciaetta Ivey’s lawyer, Bruce Shapiro, wrote in the reply. 'Phil can make the claim over and over again, but the case was far from over when he made his donation.”
He went on to say: 'There can be no doubt that when a family court litigant makes a substantial contribution to a family court judge and then appears in front of that judge only months later, that it is unseemly and raises at least the appearance of impropriety.'
According to court documents, Luciaetta Ivey received about $180,000 a month as taxable alimony from her husband’s Tiltware payment, 'while Phil enjoyed the remaining approximately $740,000.” Per the agreement, those payments, which Luciaetta Ivey had received from January 2010 until April 2011, stopped when Phil Ivey ceased receiving them from Tiltware after Black Friday.
In Phil Ivey’s response, he claimed his ex-wife “received a purse collection worth more than $1.2 million, jewelry valued at more than $1 million and $180,000 a month in alimony as part of the divorce settlement, while he accepted more than $170,000 in credit card debt and more than $15.1 million 'in gambling and other debt.'
Full Tilt Poker Scandal Phil Ivey Update
Luciaetta Ivey admits that the settlement awarded her the jewelry, 'but Phil ignores that his own jewelry is awarded to him with no assessed value.'
In addition, she believes the settlement was unfair considering she “had no idea then and has no idea now where Phil's money came from or where it went.”
Luciaetta Ivey, who now resides in Florida, has filed a federal lawsuit in Las Vegas according to the LVRJ.
The lawsuit names her ex-husband and his attorney, David Chesnoff, accusing each of “conspiring to deprive her of her equal share of the community property acquired during the marriage.”
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