Judge Dismisses RICO Claims in Full Tilt Class Action Lawsuit

Full Tilt Poker executives and sponsored players won a legal battle Monday, as the majority of claims made in a civil lawsuit against FTP were dismissed by the judge presiding over the case.

In the class action lawsuit, which was filed last June, a group of former FTP players sought to recover $150 million that was lost by US players when Full Tilt was targeted by the US government last year. Of the three sites named in the “Black Friday” indictments, Full Tilt caused the most anguish for players worldwide; while PokerStars was quickly able to refund account balances to American players and continue operations elsewhere, and the Cereus Network was significantly smaller, Full Tilt Poker first had issues paying their American clients, and then lost their operating license as a result – leaving players around the world uncertain as to whether they would ever receive the money sitting in their accounts.

The players who filed the lawsuit sought damaged under the Racketeer Influences and Corrupt Organizations Act – what’s known as a RICO case. However, U.S. District Judge Leonard B. Sand said in his ruling that the players’ claims were “too attenuated” to allow the racketeering portions of the claim to proceed.

“It remains unclear whether the direct cause of the plaintiffs’ injuries was the decision by the U.S. Attorney’s office to temporarily shut down the Full Tilt Poker website,” Sand said in his decision, “or was instead as plaintiffs’ conversion allegations suggest, the subsequent decision by one or more of the defendants to halt player withdrawals.

Claims against some of the units that made up Full Tilt Poker were allowed to proceed, while others were put on hold in order to allow the claims to be amended. But all claims against the individual sponsored poker pros and the RICO claims against the executives were dismissed.