International ace Phil Hellmuth, the World Series of Poker's most successful player, has released a statement on his involvement with UltimateBet in the wake of the fresh disclosures on Youtube tapes.
After listening to the incriminating tapes, Hellmuth made the statement expressing regret over his association with the cheating online poker enterprise and the key UltimateBet execs and lawyers, involving Russ Hamilton, who was reportedly the main driver behind the multi-million dollar scandal.
The tapes apparently include comments showing that those allegedly involved in the recorded discussion - Hamilton, Greg Pierson and lawyers Daniel Friedberg and Sanford Millar - plotted to hide the full details of the cheating software from Hellmuth who was a shareholder and early investor in the project as well as a high profile promoter.
Explaining his decision to continue risking his reputation fronting for the poker room as the crisis developed, Hellmuth said he continued because he believed that if he abruptly left the business it would impair the company's ability to pay players impacted by the cheating scandal - the biggest in online poker history.
They finally parted a few months before UltimateBet and its sister Absolute Poker were closed in a 2011 US Department of Justice investigation and Black Friday.
However, industry observers point out that there are some starting omissions in the Hellmuth statement which does not mention his alleged ownership stake in the software company and early UltimateBet owner, the now defunct Excapsa, or his alleged financial interest in Iovation.
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