Compliance boss worked at disgraced betting company

THE executive responsible for regulatory affairs at FTX previously worked for a betting company at the centre of a poker cheating scandal, it has emerged.

Dan Friedberg, FTX’S chief regulatory officer, was a lawyer for gambling website Ultimate Bet.

In 2008, it came to light that company insiders at Ultimate Bet had used “god mode” software to peek at the hands of other players during online games of high-stakes Texas hold’em poker. An investigation by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission found that Russ Hamilton, an American former poker champion and consultant for Ultimate Bet, had been the “main person responsible and benefitting from” the cheating. The dishonesty cost other players millions of dollars.

A secretly made recording, published in 2013, later revealed that other senior figures at the company appeared to have been aware of the scandal and had discussed how to contain the public fallout. In the recording, Mr Friedberg is heard advising Mr Hamilton about what to say publicly and warns that another explanation “is not going to fly”.

Ultimate Bet was at one stage owned by Excapsa Software, a company that listed on London’s Aim stock exchange in 2006 before delisting the same year.

Mr Friedberg was previously vicepresident and general counsel at Excapsa, regulatory filings show.

He later specialised in cryptocurrency and worked at California-based law firm Fenwick & West, where he was a partner, and joined FTX as general counsel some time after the company was founded in 2019.

Mr Friedberg’s biography on FTX’S website makes no mention of his work for Ultimate Bet or Excapsa. Mr Friedberg’s profile on the social network Linkedin was taken down in the past week. However, Mr Friedberg’s website disclosed that he had previously advised unnamed gaming companies.

FTX was asked to comment but did not respond. Mr Friedberg could not be reached directly for comment.