DOJ Approves Release of $82 Million in Full Tilt Poker Funds to 30,000 Players
Good news for U.S. players waiting for their Full Tilt Poker (FTP) refunds. According to the Poker Players Alliance (PPA), the Department of Justice has completed its audit of Garden City Group (GCG) petitions and has approved the release of $82 million in funds to approximately 30,000 players.
John Pappas, Executive Director of the PPA, broke the news in a statement at the TwoPlusTwo forums on Wednesday.
“Yes good news. I spoke with AFMLS/DoJ staff today and they informed me that they have approved approximately 30,000 undisputed player claims totaling approx $82 million dollars in remissions,” Pappas wrote. “Garden City should be making a formal announcement on its website, fulltiltpokerclaims.com, within the next 24 hours. Players with undisputed claims should be looking for an email from Garden City Group within the next few weeks with instructions on how to receive their payment. The DoJ could not provide me with a definitive date on when these emails will go out and when payments will be processed. But it looks like it will be in advance of their March 31 deadline.”
Pappas also revealed that the GCG received some claims that “were filed incorrectly or incompletely.” Anyone with such a claim will receive an email explaining the issues with their claim.
“The question of affiliates and pros is still unresolved,” Pappas continued. “The DoJ and Garden City are working on this very diligently and I trust they will be sharing news with this affected class of players soon. As they have indicated, there will be a new filing window for those players.”
The deadline to submit petitions was Saturday, Nov. 16, 2013; however, a few days after the deadline the GCG announced that players could still submit late-filed petitions, though with no guarantee that they would be accepted.
Anyone who has not yet filed a claim can still do so at FullTiltPokerClaims.com.
“Overall, I was very impressed that the DOJ worked through these issues and shared the info with the PPA,” Pappas concluded. “It has been a long time coming, but I think phase I and 82 million of players money will be returned very soon.”
PokerNews will bring you more on this story when the Garden City Group releases its statement.
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PR & Media Manager for PokerNews, Podcast host & 2013 WSOP Bracelet Winner.
