{"id":48201,"date":"2017-04-11T13:00:10","date_gmt":"2017-04-11T20:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=48201"},"modified":"2017-04-11T10:09:38","modified_gmt":"2017-04-11T17:09:38","slug":"doj-announces-absolutepokers-victims-will-paid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/doj-announces-absolutepokers-victims-will-paid\/","title":{"rendered":"DOJ Announces AbsolutePoker\u2019s Victims Will be Paid"},"content":{"rendered":"

AbsolutePoker\u2019s US victims may yet receive compensation. In a surprise announcement by the DOJ, Monday, Joon H Kim, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said that a process to \u201ccompensate eligible victims of a fraud committed by Absolute Poker\u201d would begin.<\/p>\n

\"Joon
Joon H Kim, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, has announced the process of reimbursing AbsolutePoker\u2019s US players would soon begin, using funds left over from PokerStars\u2019 2013 payment to the DOJ. (Image: Korean Times)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It\u2019s almost exactly six years ago that the DOJ shut down the three largest online poker sites serving the US market, FullTilt, PokerStars<\/a> and Absolute Poker\u2019s CEREUS network, on the day that came to be known by online poker players as \u201cBlack Friday.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The DOJ accused these operators of bank fraud and money laundering on the grounds that they had tricked banks into processing billions of online poker transactions in violation of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act.<\/p>\n

AP\u2019s Black Friday Melt Down<\/b><\/h2>\n

AbsolutePoker collapsed shortly after Black Friday, owing its players millions, and, because, like FullTilt and its sister site UltimateBet, it had failed to segregate player funds from its operating costs, it couldn\u2019t pay.<\/p>\n

Absolute Poker\u2019s assets were liquidated by the DOJ to cover debts to suppliers, but the players were never paid and, until Monday\u2019s announcement, they probably thought they never would be. By some estimates they are owed $60 million. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2013, PokerStars\u2019 pre-Amaya<\/a> owners negotiated a deal with the DOJ that saw the site forfeit $540 million to US authorities, enough to cover the balances of Full Tilt\u2019s US players, allowing it to acquire Full Tilt and its assets and assume liability for its debts to non-US players.<\/p>\n

Payments from the \u201cPokerStars Kitty\u201d<\/b><\/h2>\n

A year later, the Full Tilt player remissions process began and players have received $118 million in reimbursements to date. Funds left over in the kitty from the PokerStars payment will now be used to settle the balances of AbsolutePoker players, the DOJ said. There was no mention of whether UltimateBet players will also be included in the mix.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cAdditionally, the Department of Justice has concluded that players of Absolute Poker who were unable to recover their funds from Absolute Poker are similarly situated to the eligible victims of Full Tilt Poker, in that Absolute Poker, like Full Tilt Poker, did not maintain funds sufficient to repay all of its players,\u201d said Kim.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The process is due to begin soon, he added, and interested parties should keep their eyes on claims administrator Garden City Group\u2019s website (gardencitygroup.com) for an announcement soon.<\/p>\n

It may or may not be a coincidence that the development comes just one month after AbsolutePoker founder, Scott Tom, a fugitive since 2011, finally turned himself in. He is yet to face trial.<\/p>\n

Of the 11 Black Friday indictees, only former PokerStars\u2019 owner Isai Scheinberg remains \u201cat large.\u201d Despite paying more than half a billion dollars in an attempt to make things good, the criminal complaint against Scheinberg remains outstanding.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

AbsolutePoker\u2019s US victims may yet receive compensation. In a surprise announcement by the DOJ, Monday, Joon H Kim, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said that a process to \u201ccompensate eligible victims of a fraud committed by Absolute Poker\u201d would begin. It\u2019s almost exactly six years ago that the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":48203,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,21,10,60],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nDOJ Announces AbsolutePoker\u2019s Victims Will be Paid<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"AbsolutePoker\u2019s US customers, who have been owed money since the site\u2019s collapse after Black Friday, will be compensated at last, says DOJ. \u00a0 \u00a0\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"DOJ Announces AbsolutePoker\u2019s Victims Will be Paid\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"AbsolutePoker\u2019s US customers, who have been owed money since the site\u2019s collapse after Black Friday, will be compensated at last, says DOJ. \u00a0 \u00a0\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/doj-announces-absolutepokers-victims-will-paid\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-04-11T20:00:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-04-11T17:09:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/url-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"284\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"178\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/doj-announces-absolutepokers-victims-will-paid\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/doj-announces-absolutepokers-victims-will-paid\/\",\"name\":\"DOJ Announces AbsolutePoker\u2019s Victims Will be Paid\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/doj-announces-absolutepokers-victims-will-paid\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/doj-announces-absolutepokers-victims-will-paid\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/url-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-04-11T20:00:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-04-11T17:09:38+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8c48bf89dc86da77b4d856c7b3b78d77\"},\"description\":\"AbsolutePoker\u2019s US customers, who have been owed money since the site\u2019s collapse after Black Friday, will be compensated at last, says DOJ. \u00a0 \u00a0\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/doj-announces-absolutepokers-victims-will-paid\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/doj-announces-absolutepokers-victims-will-paid\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/doj-announces-absolutepokers-victims-will-paid\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/url-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/url-1.jpg\",\"width\":284,\"height\":178,\"caption\":\"Joon H Kim, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, has announced the process of reimbursing AbsolutePoker\u2019s US players would soon begin, using funds left over from PokerStars\u2019 2013 payment to the DOJ. 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