The US Department of Justice is offering a new compensation program aimed at reuniting former Absolute Poker players with the money that’s been sitting in their accounts since the site was shuttered on Black Friday.
Yesterday afternoon acting US Attorney for the Southern District of New York Joon H. Kim announced the plan, which will be administered by the Garden City Group (GCG). Joon, it should be noted, is in his position on a pro tem basis until a full-time replacement for his predecessor Preet Baharara is found. Baharara was recently fired from his position by the US President.
GCF is the same outfit the DOJ used to administer its compensation program for Full Tilt Poker Players. So far the company has successfully reunited former FTP players with approximately $118 million of their long lost cash.
While Absolute Poker’s long-suffering players are certainly glad to hear the news that compensation may be on its way, there are still a number of questions that remain unanswered. For starters, why start compensating now?
At this juncture, the DOJ has given no indication that Absolute Players can expect full refunds, or even what prompted the compensation program, six years after Black Friday.
There’s also the question of the rushed timetable. In its announcement, DOJ officials say that Absolute Poker players have until June 19 to file their claims, but gave no indication as to why they were moving so quickly. It is possible that they are looking to clean up as many of Baharara’s cases as possible before appointing his replacement, but there’s no indication one way or the other.
That said, anyone who thinks they qualify for compensation under that plan should register their claims at www.AbsolutePokerClaims.com or call 1-855-907-3254.