Online poker is a hot topic across the world as of late, with a variety of subjects under discussion. You have some states in the US looking to legalize the option while countries in other areas around the globe are thinking about restricting who can provide services. Whenever big news is released, the entire poker community knows about it. One subject that any poker aficionado knows about is Full Tilt and Black Friday.
Full Tilt was among several sites that faced charges stemming from offering their services after the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act was passed in 2006. Online poker sites such as Full Tilt Poker continued to operate despite this measure being in place. On April 15th 2011, the Department of Justice took matters into their own hands and had these sites shut down operations within the US.
The online poker room, along with others such as Absolute Poker and PokerStars, were charged with fraud, money laundering and being in violation of online gambling regulations within the United States. One year later, the former executives of Full Tilt were part of a legal suit which has seemingly now been settled. While the details of the case have been public knowledge, it seems the settlement of the lawsuit has just finished up quietly.
Several lawsuits were filed against the individuals who formerly served as the directors of Full Tilt Poker. This included Chris Ferguson, Howard Lederer, Ray Bitar and Rafe Furst. Each of the men were accused of paying themselves $450 million. The former poker players were also alleged to have defrauded as much as $300+ million. In the suit filed against the four men, it stated that a Ponzi-scheme had been created to be able to acquire the money by illicit gains. A fifth player, Bradley Clasen, was added to the suit in 2012.
For the past few years, a remissions process has been taking place for players who were members of Full Tilt Poker when it operated in the United States all those years ago. PokerStars actually acquired Full Tilt after paying a large sum of money and has been working with the United States Department of Justice for some time now to see these players repaid. The Garden City Group was hired to handle the payment processing and remission process with most players having been paid their dues.
Reports have now emerged that state the lawsuit filed against the former executives by four former players has been closed. Todd Terry, Nick Hammer, Robin Hougdahl and Steve Segal filed the suit and settlement discussions would not begin until 2015. A settlement was actually agreed by the end of last year and then saw approval in January of this year.
Based on information reported by Flushdraw.net, the final settlement would see $260,000 given to the attorneys of each plaintiff. $500 of this money was to be given to the players involved in the suit. The case has now been dismissed with prejudice which means no more class-action claims of similar nature can be filed.
Ferguson and Lederer have also been in the news as of late as the two have been trying to get back in to the game of poker, also quietly. Both took part in the recent World Series of Poker tournaments, with both men taking part in big events. During these events, both Lederer and Ferguson were confronted by players who felt they had done the poker community wrong. Ferguson was even booed and heckled as he was eliminated from a final table of one WSOP event. It will be interesting to see if both men try to continue taking part in live game play in major events or if they will both try to continue to keep a low profile.