Black Friday Indictment Updates – Full Tilt Lawyers Ask Out, Trial Date Set, and PokerStars Gets Money Back

In the past week, there have been developments from both PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker related to the April 15th “Black Friday” indictments.  First, Full Tilt Poker’s legal team decided to pull out of the civil suit involving Team Full Tilt players  Next, the date for the resumption of the AGCC’s trial against Full Tilt has been announced.  Finally, PokerStars has reached a deal with the DOJ regarding some of the money frozen in foreign accounts.

PokerStars gets funds returned, Full Tilt still spinning wheels.

Full Tilt Lawyers Attempting to Pull Out of Civil Suit

Last week, attorneys Jeff Ifrah and David Deitch have filed a motion to withdraw as attorneys of record for the civil trial brought against Full Tilt and Team Full Tilt Pros on June 30th of this year.

According to the motion, “continued representation of Defendants would create unreasonable difficulty for us to carry out our employment effectively and would result in an unreasonable financial burden to our law firm.”

The civil suit was brought against Full Tilt and Team Full Tilt pros in an attempt to get the company to repay money to U.S. players that current remains frozen by the U.S. government.

From reports, it appears Ifrah will continue to serve as attorney for Full Tilt Poker and CEO Ray Bitar, just not in this specific case.

Full Tilt Hearing to Resume September 19th

On Monday, the Alderney Gambling Control Commission announced that the hearing regarding Full Tilt Poker’s suspended online gaming license will resume on September 19th at 9:00 a.m. in the Plaza Suite at the Riverbank Park Plaza Hotel in London, England.

The hearing was supposed to resume by the 15th, and the additional four day delay was not explained in the release.  The AGCC did say a full update is pending.

At present, an investor has not reached a deal with Full Tilt Poker, and time seems to be running out for the troubled company.

DOJ Releases Some Funds to PokerStars from Luxembourg Account

The DOJ on Friday announced that funds from an account at the Hapoalim Bank in Luxembourg have been released to PokerStars.

According to the release from the DOJ, $5.5 Million will remain restrained in the account as a result of the Black Friday indictments.  That amount was the amount PokerStars claims was made from U.S. players.  How much was actually released to PokerStars was not announced.

The announcement regarding PokerStars is the first bit of seemingly positive news regarding the DOJ indictments in quite some time.  On the other hand, Full Tilt seem to continue to sink in the mud as the AGCC trial approaches.  UB is all but dead in the water with around 97% of the sites traffic gone and no hint of U.S. players having any chance of getting their funds returned.

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