According to a recent article that appeared on Subject Poker quoting a “reliable source inside of AP management and… corroborated by a different person inside a different department in the company,” the CEREUS Network sites UB and Absolute Poker may be short on liquid assets to pay back U.S. players. At the beginning of May, Absolute Poker reached an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice to return player funds following the Black Friday indictments. So far, no refunds have been issued.

According to Subject Poker, CEREUS owes players worldwide $54 million, but only has between $5 million and $6 million on-hand with which to do so. The article explains, “The $5 million to $6 million figure, which is not exact, takes into account about $3 million in severance pay to CEREUS’ Costa Rican employees. It does not include money that was frozen when some of CEREUS’ bank accounts were seized by the United States Department of Justice on April 15th.”

PocketFives reached out to CEREUS Network officials, who declined to comment on the Subject Poker story, but instead reiterated that player refunds are of the utmost importance. It’s not clear how much the company has locked up in long-term, non-liquid assets.

The CEREUS Network’s cash game traffic has slid 96% since Black Friday, according to PokerScout.com, to a seven-day running average of 86 players. By contrast, the overall real money ring game market has shrunk 18% year-over-year. The Black Friday indictments of April 15th resulted in the three largest U.S. facing operations – PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, and Absolute Poker – exiting the American market.

According to an exposé on Absolute Poker that appeared in the St. Petersburg Times newspaper in early May, the site’s parent company reported a net loss of $33 million in 2009. The same article rationalized, “The site was paying 29 cents of every Dollar from U.S. players to try to keep authorities from tracking the proceeds. The Feds would later call it ‘money laundering.'”

Last August, Blanca Games took over control of the CEREUS Network from Tokwiro.

Following Black Friday, both Absolute Poker and UB dismissed their sponsored pros, who included Adam RoothlusLevy, Eric basebaldyBaldwin, and Joe Sebok (pictured). The sites also moved to dot-eu domains.

A thread about the Subject Poker articleappeared in the PocketFives.com Poker Sites forum, with posters from the United States and around the world weighing in. PocketFives Mod wackyJaxon commented, “Wish I could say I was surprised. I am only surprised they haven’t just shut it all down. I guess they are hoping for people to still deposit even though there are almost no players playing there.”

In a separate post, wackyJaxon offered up his two cents on the lack of liquid assets: “IMO, the real blame lies with both the old and new management of UB/AP. You can blame the DOJ as well in this case, but it’s doubtful the money seized was big enough to make a difference in terms of liquidity.”

Non-U.S. users seem to be having mixed results cashing out of UB and Absolute Poker. On TwoPlusTwo, several non-U.S. posters were reporting that their CEREUS cashouts were being processed. Others weren’t having the same luck, with one person bewailing, “Still playing every day at AP. Still no payout from UB since 25th of May. Requested AP payout on the 2nd of June. No answers to my emails.”

In a separate thread on PocketFives.com, one Canadian poster shared his experience cashing out of the CEREUS Network: “I only had like $1K in there, but my wife and I were able to get our first cashouts via courier in a fairly quick fashion, I’d say about 3 or 4 days to process it and another 4 to deliver it. About last Wednesday, we started another cashout. Mine hasn’t been processed yet. I believe hers has been processed.” That post was made on June 7th.

On May 5th, UB and Absolute Poker officials raised the withdrawal maximums to $1,000 on Visa credit cards and $500 for all other methods of cashing out. The press release announcing the cashout changes also revealed that its workforce had been “liquidated.”

We’ll keep you posted on the latest right here on PocketFives.com.