Chris Ferguson Issues Black Friday Statement: Too Little, Too Late?

On 23 May, Chris Ferguson issued a statement via Vimeo in regards to Black Friday. As we previously reported, Ferguson and Howard Lederer were partially responsible for the Full Tilt Poker fiasco seven years ago.

In his 42-second address, Ferguson stated,

“I deeply regret not being able to prevent Black Friday from happening.”

While this may be true, the poker community and his customers probably would have preferred his issuance of a statement when the scandal occurred—not seven years after the fact.

He went on to say,

“I worked relentlessly to ensure that all players got paid back.”

In reality, however, Full Tilt customers only started receiving reimbursement of stolen funds after PokerStars purchased Full Tilt and entered into an agreement with the US Department of Justice (DOJ) to pay back players.

Ferguson added,

“I sincerely apologize that it took as long as it did” for him to issue a statement.

Many in the poker world expressed justifiable anger and disappointment in Ferguson’s failure to apologize for his role in the problem. After all, Ferguson retained an attorney at the time through whom he denied allegations regarding his role in the fiasco. Even when he resurfaced after a five-year hiatus at the 2016 World Series of Poker (WSOP), Ferguson failed to make any public statement. When Chris Ferguson received 2017 WSOP Player of the Year honors he, again, refused to make a public statement.

Ferguson concludes the video with,

“One day the Full Tilt Poker story will be told, and like many of you, I look forward to that day.”

This is an odd statement given that he obviously knows the story as he contributed to the problem.

Despite taking the (little) time he did to address the poker community, Ferguson stopped short of issuing any type of apology or taking responsibility for his role in the scandal. Whether the public and poker community will view this as a legitimate apology remains to be seen.

Take a look at his statement.

What do you think? Do you believe Chris Ferguson is sincere?

We’ve taken the liberty of preparing tweets for your followers. Click below to tweet the one that matches your opinion (and feel free to edit it).

Until next time.

PLAY FOR FREE EVERY DAY FOR A SHOT AT $1 MILLION

ClubWPT Gold is running a $5M guaranteed tournament with $1M for first place. Enter for free in the daily 1 PM or 7 PM PT free-entry tournaments running every day until November 28.

• Phil Ivey’s Edge Sorting Case Reaches UK Supreme Court
• Ultimate Bet and Absolute Poker: What Happened?
• Stu Ungar: A Legendary Poker Player and His Demons