Several media outlets have had the opportunity to speak with executives of Full Tilt Poker to find out information about the PokerStars deal and PokerNews posted a new article on the subject this past weekend. PokerNews recently spoke with Michele Clayborne, the former Consulting Head of PR at Full Tilt Poker, and Clayborne has released a statement to the media outlet.
PokerNews pointed out that many in the poker industry believed that Clayborne was posting as FTPDoug at the TwoPlusTwo forums since the Black Friday incident. The posts created by FTPDoug were released to try and give the players of Full Tilt Poker information on the status of the online poker room.
Just last week, it was found that FTPDoug was Shyam Markus, the manager of the poker room at Full Tilt. This announcement was released just after PokerStars acquired the assets of Full Tilt Poker. Below, is the complete statement by Clayborne to PokerNews. The statement discusses the events that have happened since Black Friday as well as the FTPDoug posts:
“I read with pleasure the recent statement on Pokernews.com from Shyam Marcus, Poker Room Manager at Full Tilt Poker. Although, I am not an online poker player, the PokerStars/FTP acquisition hopefully brings an end to this unfortunate period in online gaming and will restore both faith in the sport and the return of all funds to FTP players.
As the former Consulting Head of PR for FTP with over 15 years of global experience in public relations, the revelation of the true identity of FTPDoug was long over due. Until this announcement, I too was not aware of this person’s identity, although I asked for clarification on numerous occasions due to the fact that some unreliable and misleading poker press deemed FTPDoug to be me with 100 percent certainty — now known to be 100 percent false. Nor, was I ever notified of any posting prior, or asked to review them. I saw them for the first time when the public did.
For further clarification, I was also not informed about any of the intricate details of the financial inner workings of the FTP organization, nor should I have been. I was not an employee of the company, nor is investor relations, finances or accounting, my area of expertise.
I am and will always be loyal to my PR clients. Therefore, I never commented on this tragic matter publicly, even though I was the target of several untrue and malicious postings that were damaging to my reputation. As a professional, I would never intentionally mislead the public. Any PR statements I have ever released were under my own name (not FTPDoug or any other pseudonym) and all information for my press releases were both provided and expressly approved by FTP.
During complicated, crisis situations such as the one with FTP, it is unfortunate that there are unreliable poker news sites and bloggers that disseminate self-serving, inaccurate and misleading information to poker playing public — further clouding an already tense situation. You deserve better. Thank you to Pokernews.com and TwoPlusTwo for posting the truth.
I look forward with great optimism for a speedy resolution for all of the players and fruitful partnership between PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker.”
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