October 10 - New lawsuits against Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars,
once considered the world's two leading online poker rooms, have been filed by
online poker software company, Cardroom International.
Cardroom International's Full Tilt Poker lawsuit was filed in the
Santa Monica Division of the Southern District of New York, while its PokerStars
lawsuit was filed in the Santa Monica Division of the Superior Court of
California.
As part of the Cardroom International lawsuits, the online poker
software group said that it was making claims on the five bank accounts
belonging to the online poker sites.
Cardroom International explained its reasons in a specially
formulated press release:
"Cardroom sought to license its software to major media companies
for use on their sports related sites," it read. "Between them, the PokerStars
defendants and the Full Tilt defendants entered into agreements whereby they
provided such play money services to ESPN/ABC, Fox and NBC. At a meeting with
one of the aforementioned networks, the CEO of Cardroom was informed that
adoption of his system faced the barrier of the purchase of airtime on the
network by PokerStars companies, as the PokerStars companies were tying
continued purchase of airtime to use of their software and system on the
network's website."
The press release continues: "Within weeks of meeting with this
network, the network announced a deal with PokerStars. The bulk of the money
utilized by the PokerStars defendants to purchase time for poker television
programs came from funds illegally obtained from United States poker players.
Though Full Tilt did not directly interfere in the potential transaction between
Cardroom and the Network, it was due to the joint conspiracy of the PokerStars
defendants and the Full Tilt defendants alleged below that both companies
achieved their dominant position in online poker."
Top Full Tilt Poker Executives Named in Lawsuit
In the lawsuit brought against Poker Stars and Full Tilt Poker,
the names of top executives were listed, including Howard Lederer, Chris
Ferguson, Ray Bitar and Rafe Furst.
The lawsuit demands access to their accounts which cannot,
according to the text, be effectively traced to any specific criminal activity
which violates US gambling laws as they "are intermixed proceeds of fraudulent
activity lasting many years in violation of the laws of the United States,
combined with the proceeds of legal foreign wagering and other legal
activities."
The lawsuit is just one in a long line of claims brought against
the two online poker rooms, especially Full Tilt Poker which has been accused of
running a Ponzi scheme and fleecing hundreds of millions from its players.
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