Ponzi or poker?

Yesterday, the U.S. Justice Department amended an earlier filing against Full Tilt Poker to include Ponzi scheme charges. The suit alleges that instead of holding players’ money in accounts that could be accessed and drawn upon at any time, as promised in the user agreement, cash pay outs were issued to the site’s management. Some big name poker stars are called out in the filing. Two of the biggest players on the pro circuit, Chris Ferguson and Howard Lederer, are said to have received $25 million and $42 million respectively. All in all, $440 million was allegedly paid out of customer accounts since 2007.