Full Tilt Poker Facing Class-Action Lawsuit From Angry US Players

On the same day the LA Times announced that a group of European investors were buying Full Tilt Poker, a class action lawsuit was filed against the beleaguered online poker room in New York’s Southern District Court.
On June 30th, the plaintiffs Steve Segal, Nick Hammer, Robin Hougdahl and Todd Terry filed their law suit ‘on behalf of themselves and all other similarly situated’ for the return of funds and damages still owed by Full Tilt to their former US players.
Named specifically in the law suit for $150 million plus damages are nine companies, and 15 individuals with deep associations with the poker site. These names include co-founders Raymond Bitar and Nelson Burtnick, as well as all the members of Team Full Tilt excluding Tom ‘durrrr’ Dwan.
These individuals include Howard Lederer, Phil Ivey, Chris Ferguson, Erik Seidel, Phil Gordon, John Juanda, Jennifer Harman-Traniello, Erick Lindgren, Andy Bloch, Mike Matusow, Gus Hansen, Allen Cunningham, and Patrik Antonius.
Members of Team Full Tilt are believed to own significant shares in the company, with specific mention made of Phil Ivey whom they allege owns a minimum 5% in the business.
Ironically, Phil Ivey had just dropped his own law suit for the return of the US players’ funds, stating “he believes Full Tilt is taking steps to see that the players are paid,” following news of the European investors’ deal with the company.
However, the latest class action lawsuit immediately picked-up where Ivey jumped off, with Ivey now one of the named defendants in the case.
The return of money owed to the US players is sought under the RICO statute for racketeering, and reads:
” [The lawsuit] represent a nation-wide class of Full Tilt account holders residing in the United States… U.S. Players’ would never have suffered injury, but for the Defendants’ widespread scheme to commit wire fraud, bank fraud and money laundering in order to pad their own pockets.”
So far there has been no official response to the law suit from Full Tilt Poker.