Bharara calls for Bitar pre-trial detention
US authorities consider Full Tilt CEO 'flight risk' " decision on bail to wait until after government appeal.
United States authorities have called for Full Tilt Poker CEO Ray Bitar to be denied bail on the grounds that he represents a “flight-risk”, filing a memorandum for pre-trial detention last week.
The memorandum, submitted by US Attorney Preet Bharara and prosecutor Arlo Devlin-Brown, explains “The serious charges Bitar faced and millions of dollars of assets he maintained abroad presented a risk of flight that could not be addressed by any bail conditions, particularly as the defendant had already demonstrated a willingness to remain out of the United States for over 14 months before returning to face the less serious original charges.”
Bitar’s bail had been raised to US$2.5m “ secured by $1m in cash or property “ from the original figure of $250,000 upon his arrest on US soil last Monday, with presiding magistrate judge Debra Freeman noting at the time that it was “A close call in terms of whether I should have ordered detention.
Judge Paul Engelmayer “ in front of whom all relevant parties appeared last Friday “ sided with Judge Freeman in seeing no cause to deny bail. According to poker news site Diamond Flush Poker, Bitar was remanded in custody this weekend pending the government’s appeal being heard by Judge Lewis Kaplan. He pleaded not guilty last week and his pre-trial conference is due to take place today in New York.
The memo cites Bitar’s wealth as part of the basis for considering him to be a flight risk, and states: “The lack of transparency regarding Bitar’s assets (particularly as many are outside of the United States) makes it impossible to reliably determine what size bond “ if any “ would be sufficient to guard against this risk of flight.”
It explains: “The defendant presents a risk of flight that cannot be addressed by any bail condition because he faces very serious charges and has millions of dollars offshore, which could be used to fund life as a fugitive and easily compensate those signing any bond should he flee.”
A number of bank accounts tied to the 40-year-old were listed in last week’s superseding indictment, including several located outside the United States in Ireland, Germany and the Channel Islands. The memo notes that the inclusion of such bank accounts in a restraining order tied to the indictment “Does not mean that the United States Government has control over the foreign bank account or even information as to how much money is in such an account.”
Due to the requirement of the cooperation of relevant non-US authorities, therefore, the memorandum notes that the identification of such accounts in the restraining order “Does not necessarily put those funds beyond Bitar’s reach.”
It also notes that until early 2011 the Full Tilt CEO regularly travelled to and from the US from his Ireland home “for business and pleasure,” adding that the regular travel stopped “When Bitar concluded for several reasons that an indictment might be imminent.” Bitar had been informed that, following the Black Friday indictments, “The Government’s message was consistent: if Bitar wanted to address the pending charges, he needed to return promptly.”
In calling for a denial of bail the government mentions Bitar’s refusal to return at that point, as well as his decision to stay on as CEO of Full Tilt, which it claims “As of [15 April 2011] was little more than a Ponzi scheme.”
Bitar’s co-defendant in last week’s superseding indictment, Full Tilt head of payments Nelson Burtnick “ is still yet to return to the United States to face charges. He, along with Absolute Poker founder Scott Tom and PokerStars’ Isai Scheinberg and Paul Tate, are the only individuals indicted on Black Friday yet to enter a plea in the case.