DOJ Names Full Tilt Claims Administrator
In a move that has been long awaited by fans of poker and those who have been observing the many ups and downs of the Internet gambling industry in recent years, the United States Department of Justice announced this week that they have selected a company whose job it will be to oversee the return of player funds frozen when the feds shut down Full Tilt Poker.
The frozen funds belonging to so-called victim players who held accounts on the site have been inaccessible for nearly two years, since April of 2011, when the DOJ shuttered Full Tilt’s website and seized the player account monies.
The company appointed by the DOJ to handle the process of reimbursing Full Tilt account holders will be Garden City Group. US Attorney Preet Bharara of New York spoke highly of Garden City Group and deemed it well-suited to facilitate the reimbursement proceedings.
“The Garden City Group brings a track record of handling the administration of some of the country’s largest and most complicated settlements,” Bharara said.
“With their selection, we take a significant step forward in the process of compensating victims of the Full Tilt Poker scheme,” he added.
The company has established a website at which US-based Full Tilt customers who had money on the site can sign up for a mailing list and find out more information about the claims process. Garden City Group’s player site can be found at http://www.fulltiltpokerclaims.com.
The United States Government had previously accused Full Tilt of operating akin to a Ponzi scheme, with executives collecting hefty paydays and bonuses while flouting US law by offering real-money online poker games to US-based players after the 2006 passage of the UIGEA, a law that restricted financial transactions relating to gambling.
The implosion of Full Tilt and its rebirth under its new owner and former fierce rival, PokerStars, has been a news story that has dominated the poker media for quite some time and has been prevalent in the mainstream media, as well. The names of several professional poker players were sullied owing to their association with Full Tilt Poker, among them Howard Lederer and Phil Ivey.
In acquiring Full Tilt, PokerStars admitted no wrongdoing though it too continued to operate a US-facing online poker site after 2006. Last summer PokerStars struck a deal with the United States Government to pay $731 million to purchase Full Tilt as well as to settle both foreign and US player debts.
Account holders located in markets outside the United States have since been reimbursed about $184 million, a process that was accomplished quite smoothly when the site re-launched in those markets last fall. Players in the US are reported to be owed roughly $150 million in frozen funds, though it has been yet to be clarified as to whether players ought to expect full reimbursement.
