Full Tilt Poker’s Neil Burtnick Out on Bail

Full Tilt Poker executive Nelson Burtnick arrived at Newark Liberty Airport aboard United Airlines flight 23 at 10:58 am on July 31,2012. Burtnick had finally set foot in America after more than a year since Black Friday. Incidentally, at the same time he arrived, the US Justice Department confirmed that a settlement has been agreed between them and PokerStars regarding the sale of Full Tilt Poker.

Burtnick was immediately taken into custody when his flight from Dublin,Ireland arrived at Newark. He and fellow Full Tilt Poker executive Raymond Bitar are accused of money laundering and bank fraud of which Burtnick has already pleaded not guilty. Bitar had surrendered to the authorities earlier and is out on bail. Burtnick also posted bail and was released after paying $500,000 on Tuesday.

While everyone else was busy catching up on news about Full Tilt Poker’s sale and on Burtnick’s return, others have caught up with news about the fate of another online poker site affected by the Black Friday, Absolute Poker.

At present, the US Government is in the process of taking control of Absolute Poker’s remaining assets and funds which they could use to pay back the players who have lost their money after the siege of the website in April of last year.

Absolute Poker Lawyer Jerry Bernstein said that they are forfeiting their assets to the government. He said that the proceeds of their forfeiture will be used to repay the players, but Bernstein declined when asked to divulge how much they owed their players.

On the other hand, Chairman of PokerStars Mark Scheinberg was pleased with the “putting this matter behind us”. He adds that he was secure in the ability of PokerStars to operate in the US should regulations allow them.