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Thursday afternoon a story hit the Internet that likely had poker players cheering in unison around the globe as CNNMoney.com reported that Full Tilt Poker had been sold to Groupe Bernard Tapie for $80 million. While the deal must still pass a vote by the Full Tilt Poker shareholders, with the biggest hurdle now out of the way it seems all but a certainty at this point.

According to the article, Full Tilt Poker forfeited its assets to the US Department of Justice which will then sell the assets to Groupe Bernard Tapie for the price of $80 million. Stipulations include that the US DOJ will take on the responsibility of repaying US players while GBT is burdened with the debts owed to players from the rest of the world.

The article also claimed that no current Full Tilt Poker Board members will be involved with the new ownership. The DOJ has also agreed to drop all civil complaints against Full Tilt poker, but key individuals like Ray Bitar, Chris Ferguson, and Howard Lederer, remain in the DOJ’s sights –Bitar is the only one of the three facing criminal charges.

The authors of the article apparently jumped the gun (it seems it was meant for a Friday morning release) and the article was taken down shortly after being posted. But the damage was already done, and the specifics were reposted around the Internet despite an “Embargo” on the article.

Stay tuned as more details emerge in this ongoing story.