Lake Success-based settlement administration firm Garden City Group has been selected by the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s office to handle hundreds of millions of dollars in fraud claims against the online gambling service Full Tilt Poker.
The company will be responsible for administrating the distribution of settlement funds from Full Tilt, which the U.S. Attorney’s office said misled players about the safety of their funds and paid dividends to owners instead of maintaining reserves for users who wished to cash out their accounts.
“The Garden City Group brings a track record of handling the administration of some of the country’s largest and most complicated settlements. With their selection, we take a significant step forward in the process of compensating victims of the Full Tilt Poker scheme,” said Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara in a statement.
Garden City Group, which has worked on other high-profile settlements including the payouts resulting from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, has created the Web site www.fulltiltpokerclaims.com to manage claims from fraud victims.
The Department of Justice reached a settlement with Full Tilt and Pokerstars on allegations of bank fraud, wire fraud, money laundering and illegal gambling offenses, in addition to filing charges against 11 people in connection with the alleged internet poker fraud.
Full Tilt, which did not admit fault in the settlement, agreed to forfeit virtually all of its assets and was mandated to be acquired by Pokerstars, according to the U.S. Attorney’s press release.
Full Tilt, founded in 2004, offered users both free and cash online poker gaming before indictments were filed in June 2011 and its domain name was temporarily seized by the FBI. Criminal charges are pending against CEO Raymond Bitar.
The claims process will begin shortly, according to the press release.
Garden City Group declined to comment for this article.
Reach reporter Dan Glaun by e-mail at dglaun@theislandnow.com or by phone at 516.307.1045 x203. Also follow us on Twitter @theislandnow1 and Facebook at facebook.com/theislandnow.
