Class Action Suit against Full Tilt Poker

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Former United States Full Tilt Poker players have filed a class action lawsuit against just about anyone they could think of associated with Full Tilt Poker.  Filed in the notorious U.S. District Court, South District of New York.  the suit names four plaintiffs (Nick Hammer, Steve Segal, Todd Terry, and Robin Hougdahl).  However, the suit states it is on behalf of themselves and all others similarly situated.  The people and companies the suit is filed against is open-ended, and is worded in a way that more defendants can be named at a later date.

Some tidbits to mull over:

Some people specifically named in the suit;  Raymond Bitar, Nelson Burtnick, Howard Lederer, Phil Ivey, Chris Ferguson, John Juanda, Jennifer Harman, Phil Gordon, Erick Lindgren, Erik Seidel, Andy Bloch, Mike Matusow, Gus Hansen, Allen Cunningham, and Patrik Antonius.

For the legal geeks:  “All Defendants, by virtue of their control and ownership of the Full Tilt Companies that comprise the Full Tilt umbrella, and/or their ownership stakes in the umbrella undertaking, are liable for conversion of Plaintiffs’ and class members’ monies and assets (the “property”) held in Plaintiffs’ and class members’ Full Tilt Player Accounts. The Player Accounts and the property therein are currently and wrongfully in the exclusive custody of the Defendants.”

“represent a nation-wide class of Full Tilt account holders residing in the United States . . . Plaintiffs bring suit to demand return of U.S. player funds and for damages . . . U.S. Players’ would never have suffered injury, but for the Defendants’ widespread scheme to commit wire fraud, bank fraud and money laundering in order to pad their own pockets.”

It remains to be seen what impact this will have on any possible sale/bailout.  It seems odd that no one else seems to be reporting more details or rumors about who these “European Investors” are.   The only information to come out is the LA Times story.  Usually rumors swirl and secrets are never kept well in the poker business.  The lack of new information seems to call into question what is actually going on with that whole story.

As always, Holdem Poker Chat is your source for any breaking news from the poker world.  Check back often for development on this and any other news on your favorite game

Phil Ivey Lawsuit & WSOP Boycott Raises Fellow Pros’ Ire & Support, Alternately

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By now it’s no big news that Phil Ivey is boycotting the 2011 World Series of Poker. Nor are there many poker fans who haven’t yet heard that Ivey is suing Tiltware, the company responsible for Full Tilt Poker’s failure to refund to its locked-out U.S. players their unused funds and gains. That’s because it’s been all over the press of late, enough so to catch the attention and interest of some of Ivey’s fellow poker professionals, some of whom – like Daniel Negreanu – support his actions and some of whom – like Mike Matusow – don’t.

Let’s start with the pro-Ivey camp, currently headlined by Daniel Negreanu (by simple virtue of him being most vocal about his support.) Of course, Negreanu is sponsored not by Team Full Tilt, from which Ivey also resigned in protest, but Team Poker Stars, a company that already paid back its dislodged U.S. consitutency. Nevertheless, Negreanu has come out in favor of Ivey’s standing up for his values, as has another poker pro, Eric Froehlich.

On the nay side of the debate is Mike “The Mouth” Matusow, who called Ivey self-centered, along with some other epithets we couldn’t repeat in this forum. Agreeing that Ivey’s actions were self-serving is another poker pro Andrew Robl, who said that if Ivey felt so bad for players affected by the situation, he shouldn’t sue the company for the $150 million they owe the players. He should take the example of his fellow former Team Full Tilt pro Tom Dwan who said that if Full Tilt fails to pay back U.S. players the money it owes them, he will do so out of his own pocket.