DOJ set to begin payments for Absolute Poker Affected by Black Friday 5311m

Six years after Black Friday took place, it seems former of Absolute Poker will be receiving compensation. On Monday, the United States Department of Justice announced they would begin the compensation process for victims of the site sometime this year.

Absolute Poker and its sister site Ultimate Bet saw their operators facing charges by the feds in April 2011 based on what is known as Black Friday. Both sites, along with PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker, were shut down and balances frozen or lost due to indictments. PokerStars made their payments and one year later acquired Full Tilt, taking care of the sites former players as well in the process.

PokerStars was able to reach a settlement with the federal government of over $700 million and the former players of Full Tilt based in the US were repaid, as PokerStars acquired their former rival. On Monday, the government reported that around $118 million has been returned to customers of Full Tilt Poker.

Now, it’s time for Absolute Poker players to be paid. The Garden City Group will be handling the compensation process, and they have experience in the process as they were the claims istration group behind the repayment of funds from Full Tilt to US players.

In July 2013, Absolute was able to reach a settlement with the government and agreed to forfeit assets as part of the deal. Now, almost four years later, the government is ready to assist the former players of Absolute Poker and hand out funds.

According to the Department of Justice, the remission process for former players will begin shortly and information about the claims process can be found at AbsolutePokerClaims.com. Former players have until June 9^th to file a petition to claim funds.

Players are set to receive the amount that was in their when the site was shut down but only if there is enough money in the forfeiture agreement. On the website of Garden City Group, it states that if the balances for eligible petitioners is more than the funds available for distribution, then the payments will be made on a pro rate basis.