Full Tilt Poker Claims Administrator Says Payments Coming “Shortly”

In late breaking news Thursday night, the claims administrator who is in charge of the disbursement of payments to U. S. customers of the old Full Tilt Poker is now saying that payments are set to begin “shortly,” according to their website.

Garden City Group, the organization that was chosen by the U. S. Department of Justice to handle the disbursement of funds to U. S. players affected by the “Black Friday” shutdown and eventual closure of Full Tilt Poker, issued a simple, paragraph long statement that stated they had completed their review and were ready to move forward. “Working with the Asset Forfeiture Unit of the U. S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and the Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section of the U. S. Department of Justice, Garden City Group has completed their review of data provided by Full Tilt Poker,” the statement began.

The cutoff line for accounts – what Garden City Group calls “FTP Account Balances” – is that ominous day in 2011, April 15. Whatever a player had in their account at that time is the amount that a player can petition for. The question of how much of that balance will come back to the players is covered as well in the Garden City Group statement.

“If the forfeited funds available for distribution equal or exceed the aggregate FTP Account Balances for all eligible petitioners, each eligible petitioner with an approved claim will receive the entirety of his or her FTP Account Balance,” the statement continues. “If the aggregate FTP Account Balances for all eligible petitioners exceed the funds available for distribution, payments shall be made to eligible petitioners on a pro rata basis.”

That pro rata basis is where many players may have an issue. Essentially, if the U. S. government didn’t get enough out of PokerStars for their settlement of the issues with the Department of Justice (and their purchase of Full Tilt Poker), the monies that were seized from the alleged key figures in the Full Tilt Poker hierarchy (Howard Lederer, Chris Ferguson, Rafe Furst, Ray Bitar, et.al.) and various other methods (estimated to be around $184 million) to cover the money that is owed to U. S. players, then those players will not receive their full balance as of April 15, 2011. There is no indication from Garden City Group as to how low that pro rata base will go until they have processed all the claims from players.

The rapid change of tune from Garden City Group may have been a result of some pressure from poker players themselves. The Poker Players Alliance has been at the forefront of a massive Twitter and e-mail drive to Garden City Group and the U. S. Department of Justice to not only move the process forward as to remissions to U. S. Full Tilt Poker customers but also to make those payments in full. No indication is given by Garden City Group or the Department of Justice as to the suddenness of this move or whether the actions of the PPA had any effect on their quick decision to move forward.

Only ten days ago, the Garden City Group was claiming that it would take “longer than a year” and could take more than two years before U. S. players could see their money from the old Full Tilt Poker. Citing the complicated information that they were sifting through, the difficulties of working with two government agencies and coming up with a repayment “formula,” Garden City Group was attempting to explain why the process was taking so long.

There is one step left in the Garden City Group’s plan for repayment of players. Although the federal government has signed off on their simple plan (got enough money, everybody gets theirs back; not enough money, everyone gets a percentage), there is still the court system to work its way through as their approval of the payment system has to be garnered. That is where another delay could be forthcoming.

If a player who has money on Full Tilt Poker has not yet done so, they are encouraged to sign up for e-mail notifications at the claims website. This is how Garden City Group will determine those players who will receive refunds from the old Full Tilt Poker and, if a player isn’t registered on the site, then they will not have any other recourse to obtaining their refund.