{"id":244907,"date":"2022-11-23T18:14:10","date_gmt":"2022-11-24T00:14:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=244907"},"modified":"2022-11-24T04:54:27","modified_gmt":"2022-11-24T10:54:27","slug":"ftx-lawyer-was-key-figure-in-notorious-ultimatebet-poker-cheating-scandal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ftx-lawyer-was-key-figure-in-notorious-ultimatebet-poker-cheating-scandal\/","title":{"rendered":"FTX Lawyer Was Key Figure in Notorious UltimateBet Poker Cheating Scandal"},"content":{"rendered":"

The chief regulatory officer of disgraced crypto exchange FTX, Dan Friedberg, has history. The Seattle Wash.-based lawyer was a key figure in one of poker\u2019s most notorious<\/a> cheating scandals.<\/p>\n

\"Dan
Dan Friedberg, top right, was chief regulatory officer for FTX and its CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, bottom right. Friedberg also attempted to stiff victims of the UltimateBet poker fraud, according to leaked recordings. (Image: Casino.org)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

FTX, formerly one of the world\u2019s biggest crypto exchanges, collapsed spectacularly earlier this month. That was after documents leaked to crypto news site CoinDesk<\/em> suggested that the group\u2019s hedge fund, Alameda, was using FTX\u2019s FTT token to make risky loans. The revelation prompted a major sell-off of FTT by Binance, sparking a domino effect.<\/p>\n

FTX could not cope with the run on its exchange, because Alameda had traded and lost $8 billion of FTX customer funds.<\/p>\n

Friedberg resigned from FTX earlier this month, just as the shit hit the fan.<\/p>\n

But back in 2008, when bitcoin was still just a fledgling fringe experiment, there was another tale of corporate malfeasance doing the rounds, and Friedberg was involved in that one, too.<\/p>\n

God Mode<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The UltimateBet (UB) cheating scandal was perhaps the darkest chapter in the history of online poker, and it has some contenders.<\/p>\n

It was unearthed by players themselves, who suspected the existence of a so-called \u201cGod-Mode,\u201d or \u201csuper-user\u201d account built into the UB software. This allowed users to play while viewing opponents\u2019 hole cards, they theorized, and they shared their evidence online.<\/p>\n

\n

In a February 2008 statement, UB confirmed the existence of the account, known as AuditMonster2. The company claimed the cheating had been perpetrated by employees of the former owner, Excapsa Software, and it had deleted the account.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

On September 29, 2008, UB\u2019s regulator, the Kahnawake Gaming Commission, said it had \u201cfound clear and convincing evidence\u201d that Russ Hamilton, a UB shareholder and former World Series of Poker champion, \u201cwas the main person responsible\u201d for the cheating,<\/p>\n

Hamilton and other UB employees had bilked poker players out of an estimated $20 million.<\/p>\n

Caught on Tape<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In 2013, audiotapes were leaked by Hamilton\u2019s longtime assistant, Travis Makar, to the 2+2 poker forums. They purportedly recorded Hamilton, Friedberg, and other UB execs discussing damage limitation as the scandal broke in early 2008.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think, for the public, it just has to be, \u2018former consultant to the company took advantage of a server flaw by hacking into the client, unable to identify exactly when,’\u201d Friedberg allegedly said on the tape, as those present at the meeting discussed how to avoid repaying the full amount to victims.<\/p>\n

Friedberg suggested Hamilton should claim he was also a victim of the scandal because \u201cotherwise it\u2019s not going to fly.\u201d Friedberg also said he wanted to get the 20 million liability \u201cdown to five.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI did take this money and I\u2019m not trying to make it right, Dan, so we gotta get that out of the way right away, real quick,\u201d <\/strong>Hamilton said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

No Justice<\/h2>\n

Hamilton and others involved in the UB scandal escaped prosecution because of jurisdictional issues, and Friedberg was never disbarred.<\/p>\n

Members of its sister site, Absolute Poker, were indicted<\/a> by the US Department of Justice in 2011 on charges of bank fraud and money laundering.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The chief regulatory officer of disgraced crypto exchange FTX, Dan Friedberg, has history. The Seattle Wash.-based lawyer was a key figure in one of poker\u2019s most notorious cheating scandals. FTX, formerly one of the world\u2019s biggest crypto exchanges, collapsed spectacularly earlier this month. That was after documents leaked to crypto news site CoinDesk suggested that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":244908,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24066,83771],"tags":[81975,83878,83874,81907,83879],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFTX Lawyer Was Key Figure in Notorious UltimateBet Poker Cheating<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Dan Friedberg, FTX\u2019s former chief regulatory officer, once tried to cover up the UltimateBet cheating scandal.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ftx-lawyer-was-key-figure-in-notorious-ultimatebet-poker-cheating-scandal\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"FTX Lawyer Was Key Figure in Notorious UltimateBet Poker Cheating\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Dan Friedberg, FTX\u2019s former chief regulatory officer, once tried to cover up the UltimateBet cheating scandal.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ftx-lawyer-was-key-figure-in-notorious-ultimatebet-poker-cheating-scandal\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-11-24T00:14:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-11-24T10:54:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/FTX.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"705\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ftx-lawyer-was-key-figure-in-notorious-ultimatebet-poker-cheating-scandal\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ftx-lawyer-was-key-figure-in-notorious-ultimatebet-poker-cheating-scandal\/\",\"name\":\"FTX Lawyer Was Key Figure in Notorious UltimateBet Poker Cheating\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ftx-lawyer-was-key-figure-in-notorious-ultimatebet-poker-cheating-scandal\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ftx-lawyer-was-key-figure-in-notorious-ultimatebet-poker-cheating-scandal\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/FTX.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-11-24T00:14:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-11-24T10:54:27+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Dan Friedberg, FTX\u2019s former chief regulatory officer, once tried to cover up the UltimateBet cheating scandal.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ftx-lawyer-was-key-figure-in-notorious-ultimatebet-poker-cheating-scandal\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ftx-lawyer-was-key-figure-in-notorious-ultimatebet-poker-cheating-scandal\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ftx-lawyer-was-key-figure-in-notorious-ultimatebet-poker-cheating-scandal\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/FTX.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/FTX.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":705,\"caption\":\"Dan Friedberg, top right, was chief regulatory officer for FTX and its CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, bottom right. Friedberg also attempted to stiff victims of the UltimateBet poker fraud, according to leaked recordings. (Image: Casino.org)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ftx-lawyer-was-key-figure-in-notorious-ultimatebet-poker-cheating-scandal\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"FTX Lawyer Was Key Figure in Notorious UltimateBet Poker Cheating Scandal\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Casino.org\",\"description\":\"Latest Casino and Gaming News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\",\"name\":\"Philip Conneller\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"Philip Conneller\"},\"description\":\"In Philip Conneller\u2019s eight years with Casino.org, he has covered the gaming industry from Las Vegas to Macau and everything in between. He currently focuses his coverage on gaming law, white-collar crime, global money laundering, tribal gaming, politics, and regulation. Philip was the original features editor for poker\u2019s Bluff Magazine and editor for Bluff Europe, which he helped launch. His writing has also been featured in ESPN, Forbes, Time Out, The Sun, and The Daily Star, as well as iGaming Business, eGaming Review, and numerous other industry news and tech websites. His news stories for Casino.org\/news have been linked by The Washington Post, The Daily Mail, People Magazine, and Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show, among many others. Philip once won $20,000 with 7-2 off-suit. He has been reprimanded for unwittingly playing Elton John\u2019s piano on two separate occasions on both sides of the Atlantic. He became a writer because he is a lousy pianist. Philip lives outside London with his wife and children, where he spends his time agonizing about Arsenal FC. Contact Philip at philip.conneller@casino.org.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/muckrack.com\/philip-conneller\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/philip-conneller-1495a48\/?originalSubdomain=uk\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/casinoorgphilc\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/phillip-conneller\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"FTX Lawyer Was Key Figure in Notorious UltimateBet Poker Cheating","description":"Dan Friedberg, FTX\u2019s former chief regulatory officer, once tried to cover up the UltimateBet cheating scandal.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ftx-lawyer-was-key-figure-in-notorious-ultimatebet-poker-cheating-scandal\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"FTX Lawyer Was Key Figure in Notorious UltimateBet Poker Cheating","og_description":"Dan Friedberg, FTX\u2019s former chief regulatory officer, once tried to cover up the UltimateBet cheating scandal.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ftx-lawyer-was-key-figure-in-notorious-ultimatebet-poker-cheating-scandal\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2022-11-24T00:14:10+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-11-24T10:54:27+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":705,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/FTX.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Philip Conneller","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@casinoorgphilc","twitter_site":"@Casino_Org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Philip Conneller","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ftx-lawyer-was-key-figure-in-notorious-ultimatebet-poker-cheating-scandal\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ftx-lawyer-was-key-figure-in-notorious-ultimatebet-poker-cheating-scandal\/","name":"FTX Lawyer Was Key Figure in Notorious UltimateBet Poker Cheating","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ftx-lawyer-was-key-figure-in-notorious-ultimatebet-poker-cheating-scandal\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ftx-lawyer-was-key-figure-in-notorious-ultimatebet-poker-cheating-scandal\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/FTX.jpg","datePublished":"2022-11-24T00:14:10+00:00","dateModified":"2022-11-24T10:54:27+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b"},"description":"Dan Friedberg, FTX\u2019s former chief regulatory officer, once tried to cover up the UltimateBet cheating scandal.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ftx-lawyer-was-key-figure-in-notorious-ultimatebet-poker-cheating-scandal\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ftx-lawyer-was-key-figure-in-notorious-ultimatebet-poker-cheating-scandal\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ftx-lawyer-was-key-figure-in-notorious-ultimatebet-poker-cheating-scandal\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/FTX.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/FTX.jpg","width":1200,"height":705,"caption":"Dan Friedberg, top right, was chief regulatory officer for FTX and its CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, bottom right. Friedberg also attempted to stiff victims of the UltimateBet poker fraud, according to leaked recordings. (Image: Casino.org)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ftx-lawyer-was-key-figure-in-notorious-ultimatebet-poker-cheating-scandal\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"FTX Lawyer Was Key Figure in Notorious UltimateBet Poker Cheating Scandal"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/","name":"Casino.org","description":"Latest Casino and Gaming News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b","name":"Philip Conneller","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png","caption":"Philip Conneller"},"description":"In Philip Conneller\u2019s eight years with Casino.org, he has covered the gaming industry from Las Vegas to Macau and everything in between. He currently focuses his coverage on gaming law, white-collar crime, global money laundering, tribal gaming, politics, and regulation. Philip was the original features editor for poker\u2019s Bluff Magazine and editor for Bluff Europe, which he helped launch. His writing has also been featured in ESPN, Forbes, Time Out, The Sun, and The Daily Star, as well as iGaming Business, eGaming Review, and numerous other industry news and tech websites. His news stories for Casino.org\/news have been linked by The Washington Post, The Daily Mail, People Magazine, and Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show, among many others. Philip once won $20,000 with 7-2 off-suit. He has been reprimanded for unwittingly playing Elton John\u2019s piano on two separate occasions on both sides of the Atlantic. He became a writer because he is a lousy pianist. Philip lives outside London with his wife and children, where he spends his time agonizing about Arsenal FC. Contact Philip at philip.conneller@casino.org.","sameAs":["https:\/\/muckrack.com\/philip-conneller","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/philip-conneller-1495a48\/?originalSubdomain=uk","https:\/\/x.com\/casinoorgphilc"],"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/phillip-conneller\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244907"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244907"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244907\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/244908"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}