/ Matthew Pitt / 27 July 2011 / Leave a Comment 
The only Howard Lederer that dare show his face in public (Photo credit:Pokerfarm.com)
The eyes of the online poker world were yesterday focussed on reports coming out of the Victoria Park Plaza Hotel in London where the Alderney Gambling Control Commission (AGCC) were holding their planned hearing with the lawyers and executives of Full Tilt Poker.
The hearing was expected to reveal the reasons behind the decision the AGCC took to suspend Full Tilt Poker's operating licence on June 29, action that saw all of Full Tilt Poker's games to come to a sudden halt and has left all of their customers, not just the American's affected by "Black Friday", unable to access their accounts in any way, shape or form. However, the hearing was not only very disappointing and limited in the information that was passed through the various reporters who were camped out in the function room of the Victoria Park Plaza Hotel but it turned into a shambles as Full Tilt Poker essentially blackmailed the AGCC into giving them a private hearing away from the prying eyes of the disgruntled public.
The hearing started at 1000 and those present were told to turn off all mobile communications devices so information emanating from the hearing was quite limited but at 12:24 Barry Carter of PokerNews wrote an update on the PokerNews site that said the only new piece of information that had come to light was the fact that Full Tilt Poker actually owe the AGCC fees of around £250,000 and that Full Tilt Poker would happily pay this amount within seven days "if there was still a chance that they could remain licensed by the AGCC." This alone shows how shady and underhand Full Tilt Poker is, basically telling the AGCC that unless there was a chance of having their licence reinstated that they would walk away whilst owing nearly a quarter of a million pounds, this whilst having their hands on the hundreds of millions of dollars apparently sat in their bank accounts. Disgraceful.
The same update revealed that at 1145 the decision was made to hold the hearing in private, which the case of the missing £250,000 almost certainly helped, which prompted boos and jeers from the crowd. Professional poker player Harry Demetriou was outraged at this decision and became very vocal, "What about the players?" he shouted before adding, "Why are you protecting this corrupt company?" at which point he was escorted out of the building to a small round of applause.
Then at 1800 a spokesman for the AGCC revealed that the hearing had been adjourned and would now take place no later than September 15. The official statement, taken from the AGCC website says the reason for the adjournment says as follows, "As a result of the arguments on behalf of FTP during the pre-hearing application the Commissioners decided to adjourn the hearing as they felt it was in the best interests of FTP's customers. A key consideration in their decision was to allow FTP licensees 'to further pursue advanced commercial negotiations which could lead to a more beneficial outcome for player interests"
This last statement has caused confusion to many in the online poker world as they have been lead to believe that Full Tilt Poker have been in talks with various companies and organisations that would see them receive major financial investment that would then allow them to pay back the customers who they have effectively stolen from. If this was the case then why have they not tried to rush through this hearing and why has a new hearing been scheduled for a date more than six weeks away. To me this suggests that Full Tilt Poker were and are nowhere near sorting out their sorry mess and that they have tried to blackmail the AGCC with this £250,000 so that they can get out their and actively seek some financial investment, investment that is needed on a massive scale.
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