[9BallroadPro]

Ever heard the one, checks in the mail, or a proven con and convicted criminal say, trust me. Oh baby, here it comes, bend over and grab your ankles and pass around the KY jelly and lube up.

Obviously the con is not telling us the truth and is stalling for time. So may I make a few conjectures here which I insist are just my personal opinions not based on any facts or evidence.

He tried to tie up the mfgrs with long term contracts where he got 25% of their future profits and failed. He tried to sell it to network TV for millions, and NBc, CBS and the big boys said no thanks and that was to be the big pay off. He can now see he is spending more than is coming in so he bails out and tries to sell it for a profit to cover what he put in.

He chooses the chinese mafia in control of on line gambling and chinese or macau casinos. They want to make the money by people gambling on the players. Right in the middle of the sale where the hong kong Ho was supposed to take it all over and pay the reno checks, the us government see's this one coming and passes a law stopping all on line gambling in the usa. The deal simply collapsed and Kt covers that one up out of embarassment while he tries to find another sucker to dump this turkey on. So you now have to ask, if the hong kong ho walked out, then why did not Kt just pay the reno players he owed.

There is only one answer, he is out, left, gone, and he is not paying nobody. The only chance these guys have to get paid is to have Kt make the next sale where the new owner agrees to pick up and pay the debts. It could work out, but it all looks rather bleak right now. All Kt is trying to do is grab the money and run bailing out covering his ROI. If he has put in 10 mil, any one who shows him 10 mil, he sells to you.

At least we now know the real sale price and what it is and it sure is not 150 mil which he lied about. 10 mil is more like it.

The qualifiers are dead and nobody is fool enough to put up 2K to try and qualify into a tour that may be done and gone. I saw this on another forum and I share it with you now.

from the main page:
Trust Me, The Money's Coming

Worried members of the International Pool Tour have been watching their mailboxes and bank statements for the six weeks since the IPT’s World 8-Ball Open for their share of the event’s $3 million in prize money.

Instead, they have received several e-mails from IPT founder Kevin Trudeau assuring them that the money will be coming — “very soon,” as typically stated — just as soon as the tour finalizes its sale to Asian billionaire and gambling magnate Stanley Ho.

The six-week delay has Internet chat rooms and the billiard rumor mill buzzing, and has prompted some worried IPT members to begin losing confidence in the fledgling multimillion-dollar 8-ball tour — especially with the lack of definitive information on the payout schedule.

“For sure, their credibility has been damaged. It’ll take a couple years to repair the damage that this controversy has done,” said tour member Monica Webb. “I think it has been handled very poorly.”

While grateful for the giant prize funds offered by the IPT, some players were critical of the payout delay and left to speculate on the future of the tour.

“It scares everyone that the tour might not continue, that this might all be a cover-up to end the tour — cut their losses and run,” said Shawn Putnam.

Rodney Morris, who earned $150,000 with his second-place finish at the Open, cited his anxiety over the prize money delay as the reason for poor performances at the U.S. Open 9-Ball Championships in September and a recent Florida Pro Tour event.

“I can’t even concentrate,” he said. “I can’t even get my mind on the game.”

Trudeau has not responded to repeated requests for comment on the subject from BD, although an interview has been tentatively scheduled for Oct. 20.

In the meantime, here’s a record of Trudeau’s correspondence to players, from Oct. 2-24, regarding the delay in payouts from the 200-player World 8-Ball Open, which took place Sept. 2-10 in Reno, Nev., and the pending acquisition of the tour by Ho’s online gaming interest Ho Interactive.

October 2, 2006
Dear IPT Player,

Thank you all for participating in the IPT World Open. It was truly the greatest tournament in the history of billiards. I would like to express my sincere apology for the delay in sending you your tournament winnings checks. This delay has been unavoidable due to a multitude of factors most notably the finalization of the IPT acquisition by Ho Interactive. I want to assure you that your checks will be issued very soon and simultaneously we will be formally announcing the exciting merger/acquisition with Ho Interactive. I want to especially apologize to the 30 players who stayed at the Reno tournament to pick up their checks.

The IPT is a new major business enterprise. In building the IPT business starting from nothing, the IPT like all new fast-growing businesses has and will experience growing pains. Your support and patience is important as the IPT develops and grows. As with all new businesses, challenges, changes, adjustments, and modifications will occur as the business grows and matures. The IPT is solid and is committed to growing. The Ho Interactive corporate merger is a massive and complex business transaction which will give the IPT world-wide credibility and financial stability more quickly than having the IPT stand alone. This deal will also provide IPT players, as well as IPT supporters, additional financial opportunities as our intention is to go public with the enterprise.

All new businesses have naysayers. The IPT from its inception has had its share of people who enjoy spreading false negative gossip about the IPT. These prophets of doom look for anything that they can point to as negative. The fact is the IPT in a little more than a year has been more successful than virtually all other billiard tournament promoters and associations combined. To date, we have paid out more than $3.5 million dollars in added prize money to players. We have Prime Time television coverage on a major network with a weekly timeslot. We have heavy promotion via our broadcast partners that is unprecedented. Our tournaments are broadcast live on Eurosport with repeat airings in Prime Time. The IPT has attracted major sponsors including Vonage, Dish Network, Emerson, with more in negotiation now. We have produced a world-class website with the highest quality live broadcasting of tournaments as well as on-demand viewing of dozens of matches. We have treated the players with more respect than they have ever received before. In the last two tournaments, we have provided free food, massage therapists, and other amenities at a cost to the IPT of over $700,000. We have listened to the players and continue to improve each tournament based on your suggestions and recommendations.

The IPT is poised for a spectacular event in Chicago as well as our 2007 Tour Card Tournament and the King of the Hill Tournament. We are currently planning and organizing the 2007 & 2008 tournament schedule. Your continued support and patience is needed and appreciated.

I am looking forward to seeing you all again in Chicago for another exciting tournament. Thank you again for your understanding and alliance.

Very truly yours,

Kevin Trudeau, Founder IPT


October 13, 2006
Dear IPT Players,

This is to update you on player payouts for the World Open, the Ho Casino.com acquisition, and the Masters Tournament in Chicago.

First, and most important is player payouts from the World Open. All players will be paid within the shortest amount of time! We are in final negotiations and planning on executing documents relating to the Ho Interactive acquisition of the IPT. I deeply regret that the player payouts have had to be put on hold until this acquisition has been officiall completed. I totally understand and acknowledge your frustration and concern. Please be aware that unfortunately this was an unavoidable situation due to many factors that are extremely complex in relation to the enormous nature of this deal. This short-term annoyance and inconvenience is a one-time situation. Your patience and understanding is needed and appreciated. We are working around the clock and all weekend to finalize the transaction. I will communicate with you again on Tuesday with what I hope to be the announcement that the deal is done and checks are being sent out! Please know that over 30 lawyers and accountants in the U.S., London, Hong Kong, and several other countries are involved in this transaction. There are over 1000 pages of contracts and documents that are being negotiated and reviewed. Tax implications, international treaties, securities issues, and several other factors involving publicly traded corporations etc. all are involved and implicated in this type of business transaction. I wish it were as easy as me paying players myself, but this is legally unacceptable at this time. We are 100% committed to getting this done which will be best for the long-term future of the IPT. Our goal is to complete the acquisition and get all players paid immediately so that we can focus on the Chicago tournament and the future. Our plans are to bring the company public in January. Because of this hiccup and delay in paying players, I am working out something where all players who played in IPT events will be gifted something very special when the business goes public! Your patience will be rewarded. Remember, I have personally invested over $10 million dollars of my own money into this venture. I am 100% committed to its success.

Thank you all for your understanding during this time.

Sincerely,

Kevin Trudeau,
Founder, IPT


October 24, 2006
Dear IPT Players,

I promised that I would update you today on the acquisition of the IPT by Ho Interactive. Even more importantly to you I promised to update you on the payment from the World Open. First though, I would like to thank you for your generous patience and understanding thus far. I ask that you please continue to be patient during this short, but difficult period. Final documents should be executed in the next few days! Immediately upon signing the documents, there will be world-wide press releases announcing this monumental merger solidifying a long future for the IPT! Additionally, upon signing the documents, the funding for the IPT will then be finalized within a few shorts weeks or even sooner. This means that player checks will be sent and we will have dealt with this hiccup in the business. Again, I deeply apologize for the delay. The U.S. Government's new law outlawing online casino gaming presented an unavoidable temporary bump in the road for the IPT. I will update you again on Friday with more details. At this point, I feel very good that my future updates will contain positive news for you! Remember this tour has and will continue to put you, the players, first. It is also our intention to make all players partners in this venture with many ways to benefit financially beyond just tournament winnings. More good news is coming soon. I will write to you again on Friday and I am looking forward to seeing you in Chicago!

All the best,

Kevin Trudeau, Founder
International Pool Tour

(Editor’s note: The first two letters were supplied to BD by the IPT, and the third, dated Oct. 24, was supplied by an IPT player. BD is awaiting confirmation of its verity by the IPT.)

Once again, I'm no business savvy person, but IMO, regardless of who's buying what company or whatever change of hands there may be, the money should've already been there and in the hands of the players. IMO, there are 1 too many email exchanges and its time we all shout SHOW ME THE MONEY!!!

[9BallroadPro]

The hottest topic in the pool world is, of course, the International Pool Tour’s delay in paying out prize monies from the $3,000,000 World 8-Ball Championship in Reno in early September. The 200 players in the event still have not been paid.

In a series of e-mails to players this month, Trudeau indicated that that the funds were wrapped up in the sale negotiations between the IPT and Asian billionaire Stanley Ho, which were complicated by recent U.S. legislation restricting Internet gaming.

On Monday, Trudeau announced that a financing package related to the sale had been signed, making the prize money available. Players have been promised their payouts by next week. The sale itself was said to be near completion. The first full season of Trudeau’s International Pool Tour is shaping up far differently than expected. As originally planned, the 2006 IPT season was to consist of five major events with a total of about $8.5 million in prize money, and a qualifying tournament for 2007 tour membership.

These plans first showed signs of fraying at the World Open in early September — just the second event of the season. There, players learned that the $1.27 million Masters 8-Ball Championship, set for late October in London, would be cancelled due to problems arranging for the venue; that Trudeau intended to sell the fledgling tour to Ho Interactive, an Internet gaming firm held by Ho; and that checks for World Open prize payouts wouldn’t be available at the event, due to a shipping error.

Billiards Digest: Your latest press release said checks would be sent out within seven to 10 days. Should players expect that to change at all?

Kevin Trudeau: I just talked to our attorney and all the documents to secure the financing are being faxed to my office in Chicago. [It should be noted that Trudeau emailed players the following morning, indicating that the documents had, indeed, been signed and the players would start receiving their checks.]

BD: How will the Reno checks be dispersed?

KT: We’re going to call every player when we have checks in hand and either wire the money to them or Fed Ex a check.

BD: Was there a connection between the IPT financing and your Ho Interactive deal?

KT: It’s part of the same transaction, but there were two elements to that transaction. In the negotiation with Ho, one of the elements was the financing that Ho and some of the other investors would put into the IPT prior to the IPO (Initial Public Offering). The other element was the acquisition, and generating additional financing through the public offering.

BD: The players in Reno were initially told that the checks were, for lack of a better term, “lost in the mail.” Then a week or so later the story changed to the prize fund being impacted by the Ho deal. What was the truth?

KT: Two things happened. All the checks were written and sent. But the Fed Ex didn’t arrive, which was no big deal. We figured we’d simply sign them on Monday. But come Monday, the financing package with Ho was all sideways. So we just put everything on hold until we could sort it out.

BD: That was the delay, but where was the shortfall?

KT: The shortfall was in the initial financing. We got a lot less than we thought, so we’re making up the difference.

BD: You’ve cancelled London and postponed the King of the Hill, correct?

KT: Because the financing is a lot less than we thought, we’re probably going to have to push the King of the Hill into the early part of next year. That’s not official yet, though.

BD: Is Chicago 100 percent?

KT: As of this moment, yes.

BD: Could that change?

KT: Anything can change, but as of this moment, it’s a go.

BD: When might everyone know for certain?

KT: Good question. We want to make sure we have the prize fund available, because, again, that’s from our financing. If there are any changes, we will contact the players directly to discuss those changes.

BD: Early in the process you told the players you had money escrowed for the first two events, and already had the money apportioned for 2007. Why has that changed?

KT: When market conditions change, like they did here, you sometimes have to make different business decisions. When you say financing is “in escrow,” you have commitments, letters of credit from financing institutions and sometimes the financing package just doesn’t turn out like you expected. People say, “Why don’t you put the money yourself? You have tons.” Well, that’s not what you do in business. You have different funds aside for different projects, and financing is how you generate funds for projects.

BD: You also made other cuts in Reno. You didn’t tape all the matches and didn’t have live TV overseas. And since Reno you’ve had to let people in the office go. How has your business model changed? And how have your expectations changed?

KT: The business model hasn’t really changed. In terms of the staffing, we have a number of people who float between companies when we start a new enterprise. I threw 20 people from another company into the IPT on a short term basis to get things started. Once that occurred, those people have become redundant. Now they’ve been pulled off the IPT and been put into custom fulfillment services, distributor services, Natural Cures, etc. All of the people are being offered positions in other businesses.

BD: When all is said and done, this year will have had three events, two events short of what you’d promised the players. What will happen in 2007?

KT: I don’t really know the answer. We’re committed to the tour. And as I said at the first event, we set out for what we think will be the best plan, but as conditions change that plan may be altered and modified from time to time. Next year looks really solid. We have a host of sponsors lined up for 2007. Our television looks solid. Versus is thrilled and is repeating events. We’re about to sign with ESPN Star.

BD: You said in Las Vegas that the IPT was “already making a profit.” All of the current signs would indicate otherwise.

KT: There’s two ways to look at profit. There’s profit and there’s cash flow. When you write a proforma and have a sponsorship package that comes in at $1 million, that goes onto your books as revenue even though it hasn’t hit your account yet. And then you depreciate certain expenses over five years. You can look at it that way and say this is a very profitable business on a proforma basis.

Now cash flow, on the other hand, may be very tight and may even be upside down for a while. So, in terms of cash flow, we’re currently putting out a lot more than we’re bringing in. But in terms of what’s on the books for revenue, etc., it’s very solid.

BD: The qualifiers have become a bit of a problem. Participation is dwindling, in large part caused by the credibility hit the IPT has taken recently.

KT: If I’m a player out there and I hear that the IPT players haven’t been paid, I may seriously question whether the IPT is going to be around next year and if it’s wise for me to risk $2,000 into a qualifier.

BD: There are certainly a number of players who have turned their lives upside down, quit jobs, borrowed money, etc., banking on your promises with the IPT. How many tournaments can they bank on in 2007?

KT: I can’t give you a specific number right now. I think we have 10 or 11 in the books. We’ll be close to that. We may have to scale back a little bit, I’m not sure. Our first objective is to get the players paid, get our next tournament behind us and get through the IPO. Once we have that, we can lock up sponsors for 2007.

BD: How will the players be paid from here on out?

KT: That’s a good question. Obviously, because of the last snafu we’re going to figure out a way to get the players paid quicker.

The one thing that did surprise me was just how financially distraught many of these players are. At the first event a total of three players came up to me and thanked me for the food and a fabulous event. Do you know how many players came up to me asking for a loan? Almost 50. I was a little ticked off at that. Some players were acting like it’s my responsibility to make sure they could make their car payment.

BD: But is it unrealistic for them to expect to be paid when they’re eliminated? Or at least when the tournament is over?

KT: That’s not unrealistic. And at the first event they were. But the other thing that players are forgetting is, say, how many players got paid at the U.S. Open? There were more than 200 players, and half of them didn’t even get a check. And they put up $500.

BD: That’s not the same. The players are basing their participation on a promise. They go to the U.S. Open knowing that if they finish in the bottom half, they’re not going to get a check. They come to your events expecting that once they’re finished … whether they finish 200th or 21st … they’re going to get paid then and that’s what sustains them until the next tournament. That shouldn’t be unrealistic for them to think, unless they’ve been told ahead of time that they wouldn’t be paid for a month.

KT: You’re exactly correct. I think maybe we gave some expectations, and we were very optimistic and aggressive in those expectations, and maybe that was a mistake on my part. But we’re going to make sure that in the future, that our expectations are set up correctly from the beginning and make sure we meet those expectations.

BD: What would you say to the players who are a little gun shy, and are wondering if they should still give up their day jobs for the hopes of 2007?

KT: I don’t know what to tell them. This is a new business venture, and we’re moving forward. I also think people need to take responsibility for themselves and adapt and improvise based on the scene. This is going to be a situation where over the next few years this business is going to change and evolve. We’re going to be learning about market conditions, the industry, etc.

In the end, there are no requirements. If the players want to play on the tour, fine. If a player is nervous at all, I’d say don’t play. Play in all the other tournaments. Take a look-see attitude. Watch us for a few years. And then if you feel comfortable, come play on the tour.

If you want to play on the tour in 2007, know going in that we’re new and trying a lot of huge things that have never been attempted before, and there’s going to be a learning curve for us too. They players will have to deal with modifications and go with the flow as best they can.

The bottom line is that certainly this was an unfortunate situation and maybe we didn’t communicate to the players as well as we could have. We’re learning. We’re very sincere about the future of the IPT. I’ve invested a huge amount of money into the IPT and I don’t want to throw it away at this point. I’m committed, and we’re going make this up to the players.

Let’s put it behind us and move ahead.

[9BallroadPro]

When you just keep stalling people you owe for now coming up on 2 months saying checks in the mail I have to feel this is a con and will not happen. He sold it. He never had a real organization, office, nothing. You could not get an address or phone number or any one on the phone to talk to. That was red flag #1.

It was the ones working in natural cures who were doing the work to set this up and he now says they all have gone back to their old jobs, so who is left to run the show. It could be nobody as what do they have but a group of players who show up in a rented hall for a weekend. Go in there and what will you find, a gutted shell with nothing left, checking accounts empty and if you want paid, you will probably be told go see ho in hong kong, he owns it now.

It does not look good, in fact, it looks very bad. It appears to me the con sold out, took the money and ran.

If the players had brain one they would file a joint law suit at once while they still can.

[ Edited by 9BallroadPro on 2006/10/30 11:47 ]