A week ago, PocketFives brought you a feature article about the U.S. Department of Justice requesting a settlement agreement with Absolute Poker and UB. The two troubled rooms have been dormant in recent months and were among the targets of American authorities on Black Friday. Last week, the DOJ called for a liquidation of Absolute Poker’s assets and revealed that the proceeds would be used for the “resolution of claims filed by other parties who have asserted an ownership interest in the Absolute assets.”

On Tuesday, the Kahnawake Gaming Commission (KGC), which serves as the licensing body for Absolute Poker and UB, released a statement confirming a settlement agreementwith the DOJ pending court approval. Discuss this story here.

The four-paragraph announcement read in part, “The proposed settlement requires all of Blanca’s assets to be forfeited to the United States. The U.S. Marshals office will be mandated to liquidate Blanca’s assets. However, there will be no distribution of the net proceeds from the liquidation pending the resolution of claims filed by other parties who have asserted an ownership interest in Blanca’s assets.”

On the surface, it appears that players will be near the bottom of the pecking order when it comes to funds raised from the liquidation. The same press release outlined the future of player balances: “If the court approves the settlement, and if there are Blanca assets remaining after the resolution of the claims by other parties, it is anticipated that the court will provide a process for players to make claims against those assets. At present, the Commission has no information as to how players should make such a claim.”

The KGC then gave concerned players the phone number for the general victim information hotline for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, 866-874-8900.

The DOJ’s settlement request pointed to several Absolute Poker and UB assets that could have value in liquidation, including a database of six million online poker players and the network’s software. But, as the U.S. Government warned, “If liquidation of Absolute Poker’s assets is blocked at this time, these intangible assets will continue to deteriorate in value.”

Companies associated with the proposed liquidation include Absolute Poker, Ultimate Bet, Absolute Entertainment SA, Blanca Games Inc., Hoop and Javelin Holdings Limited, Lacrosse Holdings Limited, Hoop Payment Solution Services Limited, and Morning Bliss Overseas Limited.

The KGC closed by saying the gaming license belonging to Blanca Games, the parent company of Absolute Poker and UB, expired on June 2 and was not renewed. As such, according to the KGC, “The Commission no longer regulates Blanca.”

In our last feature article about the DOJ calling for a settlement agreement, players doubted the value of Absolute Poker’s assets 16 months removed from Black Friday. One player from Canada conceded that although rebooting the software might not be too complicated, “It’s been months since anyone has played on either site… The only problem is getting traffic back to the site. “

A U.S. player joked, “The asset list might be quite comical… desks, chairs, 12 phones, 14 servers (all gutted), a few hats, etc… Could there really be money somewhere?”

The KGC serves as the licensing body for a number of online poker rooms including Bovada, Carbon Poker, Hero Poker, and Unibet. It’s based outside of Montreal on the Kahnawake Mohawk Territory and renewed Full Tilt Poker’s Secondary Client Provider Authorization last August, just one month prior to the site’s primary license being revoked by Alderney officials due in part to insolvency. The KGC was established in 1996 and began regulating games three years later.

The future of U.S. player balances on Full Tilt Poker is also up in the air. As outlined last week, U.S. players must file a claim with the American Government in order to be paid, the process of which has not been announced. Also unclear is whether U.S. players will receive their entire account balances back or just their deposits. Read more about the dilemma surrounding U.S. Full Tilt cashouts.

How much money from AP or UB do you think you’ll see? Let us know by posting a comment here.