Full Tilt Poker players are a “long way away” from receiving money that was lost during the company’s collapse last year. The Poker Players Alliance (PPA) met with the Department of Justice (DOJ), Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section, yesterday to discuss the return of funds to players. A statement on the PPA site explained “unfortunately, completion of a refunds claims process is a long way away”. John Pappas, executive director of the PPA, was in attendance and explained why the process is set to take so long.
“The first step in this process will be the Department’s hiring of of a third-party claims administrator, after a bidding process: there is no current date certain for that selection to occur. But it was evident that even when a claims administrator is hired, forfeiture and remission procedures require that a substantial administrative process be adhered to before players begin seeing their funds. The PPA will remain vigilant in our advocacy for the players. We are also mindful of the staffing and resource limitations of the Department – and the numerous other forfeiture cases they are administering — and we thus have offered our assistance to help them navigate the complexities of the issues and hopefully expedite the refund process,” Pappas’ statement read.
They added to this by also stating “no decisions have been made at the DoJ regarding the manner of repayment of player balances”. Not much else came from the meeting that was also attended by PPA counsel Mark Zwillinger and Ken Dreifach from the Washington D.C.-based firm ZwillGen PLLC.
Players will no doubt be angered there is no actual date on player payments getting started when counterparts in other territories received their money a long while back.
