Constituents frequently call upon their elected representatives when they have issues with governmental agencies and need assistance.
With this in mind, John Pappas and I worked up a prewritten letter for those of us with funds locked up on Full Tilt to send to our elected representatives.
I expect we'll go live later this week!
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Dear Representative/Senator [name]
As a constituent and voter, I wish to ask for your assistance in retrieving my personal funds. The funds in question were recovered by the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) one year ago. A claims administrator was selected earlier this year, but the process appears to have stalled. I have not yet even had an opportunity to submit a claim for remission.
I am among the tens of thousands of Americans with funds on deposit with Full Tilt Poker, an online poker website. My account was frozen on April 15, 2011, when the DoJ shut down the U.S. facing operations of several offshore Internet poker websites. At the time, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara stated, "this office expects the companies to return the money that U.S. players entrusted to them, and we will work with the poker companies to facilitate the return of funds to players."
In July 2012, the DoJ approved a deal for online poker operator PokerStars to purchase the assets of Full Tilt Poker. This deal included funds well in excess of the estimated $180 million contained in the accounts of Full Tilt Poker’s U.S. players, and were included specifically for return to U.S. account holders. Non-U.S. players were repaid in full at that time by the new Full Tilt Poker, while the DoJ accepted responsibility for returning American account holders’ funds through the standard remissions process.
Over the past twelve months, the DoJ has not taken much action at all to facilitate this repayment. Aside from the naming of Garden City Group (GCG) as claims administrator earlier this year, we have not seen or heard anything regarding our funds from either the DoJ or GCG.
Many Americans have substantial sums of money tied up in these accounts. Many suffered severe economic hardship when they lost access to those funds fully two years ago, while players in the rest of the world were made whole long ago.
I respectfully request that, as my elected representative, you assist me in working with the DoJ to expedite the process of remitting my funds. Please feel free to contact at any time so I can provide you with any further information you may require to intervene on my behalf with the DoJ.
Thank you for your attention to this important request for assistance. I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Last edited by Rich Muny; 08-01-2013 at 11:15 AM.
Reason: Update