AP & UB Payments May Be Completed by Year’s End

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Thursday, November 9th, 2017 | Written by Lucy Brown

Garden City Group are powering through Absolute Poker and UltimateBet claims at such a high pace that the process could very well be finished by the year’s end. After spending years processing refunds for former Full Tilt players, the legal administration firm has practically mastered the claims process, with those people now handling claims for Absolute Poker and UltimateBet taking the process and fine-tuning it as they handle discrepancies in customer balances caused by rakeback and affiliate funds.

Consequently, another set of payments have been processed and are currently being distributed by the firm, meaning that those players at the former poker sites can look forward to a great holiday season with the money they are owed soon headed their way.

The Latest Payments

During the first distribution phase processed on June 9th, about 7,400 early respondents with no disputed balance or other problems associated with their claims received around $33.5 million. Meanwhile, the official deadline for all other claims was set at September 7th, leading to this second set of payments.

Last month, Garden City Group then posted an announcement stating that the next full round of payments had been approved by the Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section of the Department of Justice (MLARS). Around 4,600 claims have subsequently been prepared for distribution, with the total payout worth in the region of $3.7 million.

What Comes Next

Garden City Group has been contacting anyone expecting a refund by an email detailing the amount that they can expect to receive from their claim, and the method of payment that will used to send through the funds. Those people then asked for their banking information to complete Automated Clearing House (ACH) payments and overseas wires are subsequently required to follow the instructions closely in order to speed up the process.

Nevertheless, there are exceptions made for full payment remissions, specifically for anyone with delinquent debts at the US Treasury Department, who will then be subject to assessments regarding whether some of the debt can be cleared. The Garden City Group will provide any relevant information on the matter via email, including a Unified Financial Management System Vendor Request Form. Given that Garden City Group is handling the claims for the US government, debts owed to the government will have to be addressed first before the claims money is sent out.

Last Chance

When the Garden City Group made its announcement at the beginning of the year that Absolute Poker and UltimateBet balances would be handled with the money left over from the Full Tilt Poker claims process, the administration firm swiftly sent a reported 1.2 million emails to those players likely in line for a payout. Incredibly, just 12,000 players are expected to actually have their refunds approved, therefore indicating that over one million players did not get round to filing their claims. Helping to explain some of this huge discrepancy is the fact that there are bound to be players owed small amounts of money claim who are reluctant to go to the effort of filing a petition, while others might not be eligible because of affiliate connections or ties to internet poker sites.

Furthermore, there are likely to be many players who didn’t receive or red their notices, and thus simply haven’t heard about the refund process. These people could still have an opportunity to retrieve their funds from their previous accounts by getting in touch with Garden City Group.

One More Round

This second round of payments does not complete the payment remission process, though, and there should be one more round of payments available for those Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet players who failed to file claims post-September 7th. Therefore, online poker players will have the chance to file a late claim, and receive a refund before the process is officially ended.

In fact, no official deadline for the process has been announced, and in the meantime the Garden City Group are still tirelessly working towards paying as many victims as possible of the online poker sites that were closed following Black Friday in the USA.

Anyone interested can find out about the claims process by visiting the Garden City Group website, or by contacting the administrator to learn more about making a late petition. Once the process is finally over, any funds left unclaimed are likely to then be transferred to the US government.