US Full Tilt Players One Step Closer to Receiving Payments

United Stated poker players are one step closer to getting their money back from Full Tilt Poker.  The US Department of Justice now has an “employment opportunity” on their website for the position of “Claims Administrator” which will serve to help refund players their Full Tilt balances.

In the employment listing, the DOJ says that ” the Government estimates there are approximately 1.3 million potentialU.S. victims, and that approximately $159 million of forfeited funds (less expenses of administration) is immediately available for distribution via the remission process.”

The main job of the processor will be to setup the remission process and ” evaluate claims, and to process payments, for losses incurred byU.S.victims that are attributable to the fraud alleged in the above complaint.”  The very next sentence in the listing should be noted by players looking to file a claim.  It states that, ” the Claims Administrator will obtain and evaluate information, such as financial transaction records, from claimants, and analyze information contained in user account records provided in database and other format by Full Tilt Poker.”

In layman’s terms, the government will have a complete record on where your money came from online, how your received it, and then make a decision on whether you will get paid.  This could pose several interesting scenarios, including whether or not certain players will be credited with having legitimate funds, especially those who had money transferred to them from other players.

For example, if John Q player did received a $500 transfer from another player and then ran it up to $1,500, will those funds be legit since they did not transfer money onto the site?  Also, how about players who built a bankroll via freerolls.  Will those players be considered victims since they did not risk anything to build their bankrolls?

The application process for the Claims Administrators will run through the end of the month and will go to Sharon Levin, Chief of the Asset Forfeiture Unit at the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.  We will bring you more information on this story as it becomes available.