03 Feb 12

Barry Greenstein Responds to Groupe Bernard Tapie Comments

Team PokerStars pro Barry Greenstein has publicly responded to news revealing that several poker pros including Greenstein himself owed money to Full Tilt Poker, and that they may still owe that money to Groupe Bernard Tapie.

Barry Greenstein

In a statement given to PokerStrategy.com yesterday, Behnam Dayanim, an attorney representing Groupe Bernard Tapie (GBT), revealed that several well-known professional poker players owed substantial sums of money to Full Tilt Poker when it became insolvent. Dayanim's claim was that if these players do not pay their debts, they are creating an obstacle with respect to GBT's takeover of Full Tilt.

One player that was named as still owing the company money was Barry Greenstein. This came as a surprise to most observers as Greenstein is generally held in the highest regard in the poker world, and additionally because he has always been a PokerStars pro.

PokerStrategy.com, and apparently several other media entities, reached out to Barry to give him the opportunity to comment on this situation. He responded to everyone collectively via two posts on the TwoPlusTwo forum.

Greenstein's statement

Greenstein first posted a general response to the issue. He stated that he hopes everyone else who owes money is also willing to discuss it openly, then continued with a "statement to the press and the poker community":

"I borrowed $400,000 to play on Full Tilt a few years ago, before PokerStars had high stakes games. I didn’t pay it back, hoping that some people who owed me and had money on Full Tilt would pay me there so I could use that against the debt. (I'm only owed about $150,000 now). I have assumed when this case is resolved, the DOJ will allow methods for dealing with debt to FTP.

Tapie Group contacted me last week and asked if I would pay them directly. Their attorney offered me the opportunity to pay in installments so I could have a chance to use money owed to me. He even offered me the opportunity to discount my debt if the US players don’t get paid in full. I told him that I have never paid less than I owe on any debt and I would rather wait until the DOJ establishes a fund for the US players.

I don't believe my debt has any impact on the sale to the Tapie group as they have alleged. I was concerned about taking money due to US players and giving it to the Tapie Group because it is understood that the Tapie Group won't be the one paying the US players. On the other hand, I realize that the total debt counting other players is substantial, especially because I would include in that tally any money taken from FTP once it had become insolvent.

Here is an excerpt from the letter I sent to their attorney:

“The consensus in the poker community is that all money owed to Full Tilt or taken by investors after the company became insolvent should be used to pay back player’s funds. If I were to make a deal with you it would look like I had turned my back on the best interests of the American players.

Even though the terms are easier for me if I deal with you and it will fulfill my legal obligation, I have to see how things work out with the DOJ and try to make good on my moral obligation to the US players. I assume at some time in the future the DOJ will establish a pool of funds from Full Tilt’s assets that will be used to pay off some percentage of the player balances that are owed."

Further questions answered

As one might imagine, a massive number of questions and comments were posted in response to the statement. Greenstein tried to answer the most important ones in another post, outlined as 7 points:

"1. I owe the money to Full Tilt not GBT. If I had borrowed from GBT, I wouldn't have an argument about not paying them back. I believe most people would not like me to hand it to FTP at this time. If I owed Madoff or Enron money, I wouldn't pay them either, but I would wait for a better way to settle the debt.

2. I admit it's somewhat self-serving and buys me time not to pay now. It also gives me a chance at getting money transferred (in the event that accounts are not paid back in full) from other people.

3. In answer to why someone would owe money for so long and not pay: In addition to borrow money online, I have had lots of credit lines from casinos. At one point I owed over 3 million with no interest. I didn't lose most of it, but often used it to play and invest (and sometimes lose in that way.) I paid the casinos off, but Full Tilt was last because I had no pressure to pay.

4. I agree that the entire player base deserves to get paid. As people have mentioned, it looks to me like the ROW will be taken care of if the deal goes through, so the US players need some source of funds. If the deal doesn't go through, my money should go into a fund for all the players worldwide.

5. I wasn't forthright about my debt until I had no choice because it would be embarrassing since I'm sponsored by PokerStars. I knew it would eventually come out and I could have done things to prevent it after Black Friday, but I thought it would be worse if I settled the debt in a way that resulted in the money being flushed down the drain just to avoid embarrassment.

6. Regarding US players not being paid in full: I assume that the US players will be paid out of money the DOJ gets from the sale, from seizures, and from debt repayment, minus what they keep. I have no real knowledge other than that, but if I plug in my best guesses I come up with less than is owed to the players, unless we get a surprisingly benevolent DOJ decision.

7. Even though I have many detractors in this thread, can you at least cut me some slack that I am doing the minimum of what is expected from people who owe money in the gambling world: I am admitting exactly what I owe (it's actually 382k) and I am stating my intention to pay it back. I think it will be beneficial if this trend continues."

These statements have received mixed responses from the poker community so far, but the vast majority of individuals seem to respect Greenstein's willingness to openly speak - whether or not they agree with him.

PokerStrategy.com will continue to closely follow and report on this story as it develops.

By Matt Kaufman