In the November 2011 deal, the Department of Justice agreed to sell the assets of Full Tilt Poker, once forfeited by the company, to Groupe Bernard Tapie.  Until the public release of civil and criminal proceedings against the company and its executives by DoJ in April 2011, Full Tilt was the world’s second-largest online poker company.  The industry publication GamingIntelligence.com wrote about the Tapie agreement in an article entitled, “How Tapie pulled off the deal of the century.” In the article the author wrote “I know I am not alone in marvelling at the absolutely incredible deal that was done between the Department of Justice and Groupe Bernard Tapie at the end of last week.

“Hats off to Behnam Dayanim, a partner at Washington DC law firm Axinn Veltrop Harkrider, who not only negotiated the deal on behalf of Tapie but structured it for him too. And hats off to the DoJ and its lawyers in the Southern District of New York. And I guess, hats off to Tapie too. Hell, hats off to everyone who has touched this. Because it really is remarkable.”

The deal has been widely reported in mainstream media as well, including The Wall Street Journal, The Associated Press, Reuter, The Washington Post, The AM Law Daily and Law360.  In a November 17, 2011, article, Reuters described the deal as a “very creative solution” aimed at restoring Full Tilt as a major non-U.S.-facing poker site.

Click here for a copy of the www.GamingIntelligence.com article:  http://www.gamingintelligence.com/blog/14034-how-tapie-pulled-off-the-deal-of-the-century.