The US Department of Justice has finally appointed an administrator to handle the claims resulting from the original failed Full Tilt Poker.
PokerStars owners, The Rational Group, provided the funds to pay out the players whose funds were in limbo back in August 2012 as part of an agreement with the Department of Justice over the Black Friday cases. The Rational Group also acquired the rights to the assets of the original Full Tilt Poker as part of this arrangement.
Non US Full Tilt players have already been given access to their funds, as they were available to be withdrawn or played with in November, when Full Tilt re-launched under new management.
Now the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, who brought the original Black Friday cases, has appointed Garden City Group, a specialist in handling these types of cases. They launched the website www.fulltiltpokerclaims.com yesterday, and while it may look a little Spartan, it is the official portal for US players to get their funds returned.
Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara said “The Garden City Group brings a track record of handling the administration of some of the country’s largest and most complicated settlements. With their selection, we take a significant step forward in the process of compensating victims of the Full Tilt Poker scheme.”
The press release from Mr Bahara’s office also reiterated the claim that the original owners of Full Tilt, including Howard Lederer, Rau Bitar and Chris Ferguson, had defrauded the players by ” misrepresenting to the public that player funds held by Full Tilt Poker were safe, secure and available for withdrawal at any time. In reality, the company did not maintain funds sufficient to repay all of its players and instead, utilized player funds to finance more than $400 million in dividend payments to Full Tilt’s owners.”
While the amount outstanding to US players is not confirmed, it is thought to be well over $100Million. What is still not known is whether players will get back their winnings or their deposits. We have emailed GCG to try and answer this question.
If you are impacted by this news, you can register for email notifications on the next step of the administration process on the website, or alternatively, you can contact GCG toll-free by calling (866) 250-2640.