Still No Guarantee of Full Tilt Player Refunds
November 30, 2011
Attorney Jeff Ifrah, representing Full Tilt Poker, says that US players still owed money by Full Tilt may be reluctant to make a claim to procure their lost funds due to the fear of taxation. Ifrah has requested on behalf of these wronged players that US authorities go easy on these players and to allow them to make claim to and receive their cash without being crazy taxed.
Ifrah says, “Players need some encouragement to submit their claims as some may be concerned about action from the IRS.”
Once the French investment firm Grope Bernard Tapie reached an agreement with the DOJ to allow the sale of Full Tilt Poker to go through, Ifrah says the US government will establish a fund to oversee the payback to the former US players of Full Tilt of the millions of dollars still owed to them. However, Ifrah says there are other issues that will have to be resolved before claims can be made. For instance, motions filed by Full Tilt Poker board members against the US government will have to be attended to, though these motions are expected to eventually be dropped.
There is still about $150 million in payment still owed by Full Tilt to its players, and it has still not been decided how much of this amount will be repaid, nor does the takeover of the company by Groupe Bernard Tapie guarantee any money will be refunded at all.
The terms of the deal state that some of the money still sitting in bank accounts that are associated with Full Tilt Poker will be returned to the buyer when the sale is complete. The intention is to “bring this matter to a complete resolution as soon as possible.”