The contents of an e-mail from Full Tilt Poker claims administrator Garden City Group (GCG) were divulged to the poker community Tuesday, stirring up suspicions that the United States government will be none too generous when it comes to reimbursing former American customers of the online poker site.
The e-mail was posted on Two Plus Two and was confirmed by multiple sources. Poker Players Alliance VP Rich Muny said that after he forwarded a copy, he called GCG for more information. GCG would neither confirm deny that the e-mail came from them; the lack of a denial would seem to indicate that the communique was genuine.
The e-mail details, in very formal terms, who is ineligible for reimbursement. The contents of the e-mail are as follows:
The following persons are excluded from the Remission process and are not eligible for payment from the Full Tilt Poker (“FTP”) Fund:
i. A past or present employee of FTP or any of its past or present affiliates;
ii. A past or present vendor of FTP that received compensation through FTP players’ accounts;
iii. A past or present Team Full Tilt player;
iv. A past or present shareholder of FTP, Tiltware LLC, Kolyma Corporation A.V.V., Pocket Kings Ltd., Pocket Kings Consulting Ltd., Filco Ltd., Vantage Ltd., Ranston Ltd., Mail Media Ltd., or Full Tilt Poker Ltd.;
v. A past or present officer or director of FTP, Tiltware LLC, Kolyma Corporation A.V.V., Pocket Kings Ltd., Pocket Kings Consulting Ltd., Filco Ltd., Vantage Ltd., Ranston Ltd., Mail Media Ltd., or Full Tilt Poker Ltd. or any of their past or present affiliates;
vi. A defendant in any civil action or a claimant in any forfeiture action brought by the Department of Justice related to the violations alleged in this action, or any related action (or any of his or her affiliates, assigns, heirs, distributees, spouses, parents, children, or controlled entities); and
vii. A person who, as of the Petition filing deadline, has been the subject of criminal charges related to the violations alleged in this action, or any related action (or any of his or her affiliates, assigns, heirs, distributees, spouses, parents, children, or controlled entities).
As is apparent, the vast majority of Full Tilt players in the US are not covered in the exclusions and should therefore not be too concerned about whether or not they will receive their funds (or at least more so than normal).
The biggest question surrounds who would be considered “affiliates” and “vendors.” This writer agrees with Haley Hintze’s take at FlushDraw.com that because “affiliates” is tacked on to item (v) above, which lists Full Tilt-related business entities, former affiliate companies located in the U.S. very well might end up being locked out when funds are disbursed.
While unfortunate if it comes to that, it isn’t totally hard to understand from the perspective of the U.S. government. Affiliate businesses were benefiting from Full Tilt’s shell game, all while sending players over to a poker room that was taking those players’ money. Looking at it from that angle, perhaps the affiliates shouldn’t get paid. This writer does not agree with that perspective, as there could only have been a handful of affiliates that had any inkling as to what was going on at Full Tilt, if any at all, so they are victims just like the players.
I also agree with Hintze that players who were able to create “self-affiliate” deals with Full Tilt are going to get the short end of it, as well. These were the fortunate players (at the time) who were able to use themselves as their own affiliate in order to earn rakeback. They were affiliates in name only, but there is almost no way the government will take the time to understand the difference.