Laurent Tapie has denied the rumor that former Full Tilt Poker shareholder Chris ‘Jesus’ Ferguson was prepared to sabotage the takeover of FTP by Groupe Bernard Tapie, IgamingFrance reports.
Subject: Poker recently published an article, indicating that Chris Ferguson was prepared to block the takeover agreement between FTP and the group led by Laurent Tapie because he would not be able to recover the $14M he had lent FTP following its closure by the Department of Justice during Black Friday in April 2011.
Laurent Tapie told iGamingFrance that the story is totally false, and added the following: "Now that the due diligence process is nearly complete, and unless there are last minute surprises, we hope to do the deal by the end of February."
Chris Ferguson's lawyer, Ian Imrich also responded (to CardPlayer.com), saying that last week’s reporting from Subject: Poker had “numerous erroneous comments and contentions.”
“Based on what Chris and I are hearing from the parties, the deal should be done within the first half, if not the first quarter, of this year,” Imrich also added.
According to statements made to Gaming Intelligence, Tapie says there is still "a long way to go" before Full Tilt Poker can open for business again, but that he hopes to have the site up and running again "by March 1."
Source: IgamingFrance, Gaming Intelligence and CardPlayer