The poker news world has been blasted with various reports regarding the drama surrounding Full Tilt’s embattled former CEO in the past few days. From what we know, it looks as if Ray Bitar has finally reached an agreement with the US federal government for his role in the “Black Friday” indictments.
Bitar has agreed to a plea that will see him pay tens of millions of dollars in fines and have most of the nine felony charges dropped in the process. According to several reports, Bitar will have to forfeit up to $40 million in assets.
However, the silver lining in all of this is that Bitar will most likely escape serving time in federal prison. The reason for this is most likely due to his ailing health problems.
It was recently revealed that Bitar suffers from Class IV heart failure. This means that Bitar may only live six months to one year if a heart transplant is not conducted. Because of these health concerns, Bitar will not have to face jail time nor will prosecutors be seeking any down the road.
Bitar’s doctors have stated that he should not travel and his lawyer has asked that Bitar have the ability to enter the plea on video. This should happen in the coming weeks, if not sooner, via video links from a California judge to presiding attorneys in New York.
While only a few details of the plea agreement have been released publicly, but there is a strong indication that Bitar may only have to plead guilty to two of the nine charges that have been brought against him post-Black Friday.
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Nice, and a little influx of cash for the Government, now where does that go?