Report: Full Tilt U.S. Refunds Could Take At Least One Year
According to an article published by CardPlayeron Friday, Full Tilt Pokercustomers in the United States could wait over a year to be reunited with their funds. The site indicated that the claims process, being orchestrated by the Garden City Group, has barely gotten off the ground: “According to an unnamed supervisor at GCG, the process will ‘most likely’ take longer than a year, probably longer. In some instances, it has taken GCG more than two years to process claims. ‘There are no dates set in stone as of yet,’ he said. ‘We haven’t even begun the claims process.'”
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PocketFives called the Garden City Group first thing Friday morning for an update, but our request for more details was not returned as of press time six hours later. There are reportedly over one million poker players affected, with CardPlayer pointing out that the Group must work closely with the Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section of the DOJ and the Asset Forfeiture Unit of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.
The Garden City Group can be reached at 866-250-2640 and on Twitter at @GCGNews.
In an article posted on PocketFives on Friday about poker players growing increasingly frustrated with the Garden City Group, one person pointed out, “Although my blame is much more on the DOJ rather than GCG, for them to look for support in that sense is laughable. Even if the DOJ hasn’t told them how to dispense the funds, how could a ‘Best Claims Administrator’ put together a very, very basic website for our claims, give one update since then, and then not say a word from the time they’ve been appointed?”
The Garden City Group was named the Full Tilt Claims Administrator in March and launched its website, FullTiltPokerClaims.com, shortly thereafter. The last update to the site was on May 29, and its text cautions in part, “The data is extensive and it will take some time to complete the review. GCG is working expeditiously with the USAO and DOJ so that the claims process can commence as soon as possible.”
CardPlayer noted that even when Full Tilt players are paid back, they might not receive their entire balances, as the Garden City Group will use an “estimated recovery” formula to determine what amount each person will collect. CardPlayer added that no direction has been given as to how the “estimated recovery” amount will be established and a court order is also needed to initiate that process.
In the meantime, all PocketFivers could do were vent and wait. One person suggested, “GCG should hire PokerStars to help them out. They seemed to have no trouble reimbursing a lot more money to a lot more people across many, many countries. Interesting that the only country fighting ‘terrorism’ is the only country without online poker. All part of the DOJ money grab. Story checks out.” PokerStars has already refunded non-U.S. Full Tilt players their entire balances.
Stay tuned to PocketFives for the latest on this ongoing story.
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