UB tape prompts comment from Hellmuth

UB tape prompts comment from Hellmuth

Monday, 13 May 2013

New life was breathed into the UltimateBet scandal over the weekend as an audio recording, reportedly featuring Russ Hamilton, appeared.

The taped conversation, allegedly between Russ Hamilton, Greg Pierson (a developer at UltimateBet) and Daniel Friedberg (a senior manager at Excapsa), was posted over the weekend.

Originally posted by Travis Maker, the three hour "damage limitation" meeting was set-up a few years ago in order to tackle the publicity the UB superuser scandal was receiving.

The most striking revelation to come out of the recording appears to be Hamilton's admission of guilt. During one of the exchanges, Hamilton states:
"I did take this money and I'm not trying to make it right, so we've got to get that out of the way real quick."

Why the recording was ever made is unclear, however, some have speculated that Hamilton secretly taped the conversation in order to prove he wasn't the only person involved in the scandal.

Following the recordings, Ultimate Poker, the first regulated online poker room in the US, has cut its ties with Iovation. Although unconnected, Iovation was set-up by former UB executives and this is something Ultimate Poker wanted to completely disassociate themselves from.

Additionally, Phil Hellmuth has publically addressed the issue with a statement to the community. Sent via his agent to 2+2 moderators, the statement said: “I made a horrible read regarding my relationship with the founders of the now defunct online poker site Ultimate Bet.”

He went on to say: “When I became aware of the cheating scandal, I immediately insisted that everyone be paid back.”

To read the full statement, click here.



Tags: Phil Hellmuth, Russ Hamilton, UltimateBet