04 May 11

Absolute Poker and UltimateBet Leave US Market, Deutsche Bank Sued

The two poker rooms on Cereus Network are planning on not serving US customers anymore. Furthermore, Deutsche Bank has been sued on charges of fraud by the US Attorney responsible for the "Black Friday" crackdown on PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and AP/UB.

As you probably know, UltimateBet and Absolute Poker (UB/AP) were still serving their existing US players, though they were not accepting new players. This is in contrast with the other two poker rooms, PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker, that were part of the Department of Justice (DOJ) indictment on April 15.

The players' funds are still locked, but the companies are in discussions with the DOJ in order to be able and return the money to the American players. However, the two companies have already began the restructuring process.

Recently, the UB/AP Public Relations department has released the following statement in which they confirmed that they will be pulling their business from the US:

UB/AP Statement
Absolute Poker and UB ceased their U.S.-facing operations due to recent legal developments in the United States. The company is currently restructuring and will focus its remaining resources on consolidating its non-U.S., rest-of-the-world operation and software business. Unfortunately, this also means an immediate need to downsize and streamline operations significantly at both online poker rooms, with a view of becoming more efficient in the way the business is conducted.

Today's decision has not been made lightly, or in haste. It comes after considerable review and analysis of the impact that ‘Black Friday' has had on the business as a whole. All affected employees have been informed of this necessary restructure, and staff will be reduced across several areas of the business.
 

There is more unconfirmed information going on in regards to the UB/AP situation. We will keep you posted as more is revealed.

Deutsche Bank Sued by US Attorney Preet Bharara

In a slightly unrelated news, Deutsche Bank is being sued on charges of fraud. Please note that this issue is not directly related to poker players, the only connection being the fact that the bank is being sued by the same attorney responsible for the indictment of PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and UB/AP.

According to Time.com, he claims that they "committed fraud and padded its pockets with undeserved income as it repeatedly lied so it could benefit from a government program that insured mortgages."

According to the US District Court in Manhattan, the fraud was committed by MortgageIT, which was bought by Deutsche Bank in 2007.

Bharara declared in a press conference that the bank got involved in several reckless lending practices, causing damages worth hundreds of millions of dollars in defaulted insurance claims. He said: "In fact, they often seemed to treat red flags as if they were green lights."

This will only be a civil suit, as no criminal intent was yet proven. In regards to this, a Deutsche Bank spokesperson said: "The claims against MortgageIT and Deutsche Bank are unreasonable and unfair, and we intend to defend against the action vigorously."


Read more about the "Black Friday" in our previous news items below: