Absolute Poker / Ultimate Bet victim remission
As Garden City Group is largely done processing Full Tilt Poker remission claims (most remaining work is in reviewing appeals), they have been authorized by the Southern District of New York to accept and process claims for former Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet players. Affected players can file for remission at www.absolutepokerclaims.com
PPA has reached out to SDNY verbally and in writing several times since the April 15, 2011 U.S. shutdowns of PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet, encouraging them to treat all funds obtained as a result of actions associated with these shutdowns as aggregate (i.e., a single pot of money), as the funds all fall under a single case -- United States v. PokerStars, et al. As the representative of U.S. players before SDNY, we are very pleased that our recommendations have been accepted and that, at long last, many U.S. players will be made whole.
Neither GCG nor SDNY has released information on the amount of money available for AP/UB remission, but the press release does state that, in the PokerStars settlement, PokerStars agreed to forfeit $547 million. It also states that over $118 million in payments have been made to Full Tilt Poker players. Even factoring in the costs of remission processing, this seems to indicate a sizable pot, so to speak, for the AP/UB remissions process. PPA has reached out to SDNY for official word on the amount of money available for remissions, but it seems likely to be sufficient to cover expected claims.
We will keep everyone informed of new information as it becomes available. PPA looks forward to serving as an advocate for the players throughout the remission process, as we did for the Full Tilt Poker remission process. We also wish everyone making a claim all the best in working through the process.
From the SDNY release, at www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/acting-manh...:
Joon H. Kim, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today that the United States has retained the Garden City Group (“GCG”😉 to oversee a process for compensating eligible victims of a fraud committed by Absolute Poker against United States players who were unable to withdraw funds from Absolute Poker following the Office’s filing in 2011 of a civil money laundering and forfeiture action against Absolute Poker and others in United States v. PokerStars, et al.
GCG is already overseeing the claims process for eligible victims of the fraud committed by Full Tilt Poker against United States players, as described in both United States v. PokerStars, et al., and the indictment in the parallel criminal case, United States v. Bitar, et. al. To date, approximately $118 million has been paid to Full Tilt Poker fraud victims through that process.
2 Replies
Attorney Daniel Friedberg was Chief Legal Counsel for Ultimate Bet and played a LARGE part in covering up crimes and limiting victim compensation. Of course nothing ever happened to him or the other UB criminals (and it was far more than just Russ Hamilton but more like 20-25 total actors).
I was curious what happened to Friedberg so looked him up and discovered he was the “Chief Regulatory Officer” of FTX lmao. While SBF and his pals were in Bahamas, Friedberg was back in Seattle doing what always came natural to him - getting paid millions so his bosses can commit fraud.
Old news
