Pokernews have just released their first part of the interview with Howard Lederer, one of the main founders of Full Tilt Poker (FTP).
The first part of the interview covered the initial setup of FTP and whom were the original founders, however the most stricking thing to come out of the first part of the interview is the total lack of understanding of business from Lederer himself.
When questionsed about the formation of the company he was pretty vague on the structure and voting of the Board, then the interview followed on with the financial dealings with FTP and the accounts for players deposits and winnings as opposed to company accounts.
Lederer again was totally vague and explained he knew nothing about the setup of accounts and mostly pointed to former FTP CEO Ray Bitar.
Lederer continued that no one at the company really thought about seperating players funds at that time in the early stages of FTP.
The interview then focussed on Ray Bitar, with Lederer saying that there were owners within FTP that wanted him removed, believing he was not a competent CEO, however this never amounted to any attempt to remove Bitar.
Moving forward the interview then discussed about the $440 million plus that FTP shared amongst its shareholders, reported by the US DOJ.
Lederer at this time mentioned Chris Ferguson and said that Ferguson was against any company shareholder distribution, believing it would weaken the company.
One thing that seems clear from lederer’s first part of the interview, is that the entire FTP company was not organised properly, neither from a financial stand point or shareholder/owner organisation.
Obviously the interview is from Lederer’s point of view and how much of it is accurate, but what can be believed is that FTP was a great product but sadly run and owned by non professional business people.
Here you can see the first part of the interview:
Source: gaming-awards.com
