$10 million lawsuit in the Mike Postle case
The case has gone from the internet forums to the courtroom as a suit has been brought against Postle and the Stones Gambling Hall.
Attorney Mac Verstandig posted court documents for the suit, calling it the "largest known cheating scandal in the history of broadcast poker". Nine counts are mentioned in the suit - racketeering, fraud, negligent misrepresentation, negligence per se, unjust enrichment, negligence, constructive fraud, fraud and libel
This afternoon, @Angry_Polak and 24 of her colleagues took the next step in availing themselves of the American judicial system. We are proud to serve as their counsel and look forward to pursuing this matter in court. https://t.co/qcYs7WIAPp pic.twitter.com/cCaRpNCF2A
— Mac VerStandig (@mac_verstandig) October 8, 2019
25 platiffs are named in the document including Veronica Brill, the much heralded whistlerblower in this case. The $10 million is to be shared equally between the clients based on the amount of time they spent playing on the Stones Live Poker broadcasts this year.
More defendants named
The documents lay out much of the evidence that has been put forward by the investigations of Joey Ingram and the 2+2 forum. Thus far involvement from other parties has been speculated but with little evidence to support it. However, in the lawsuit the Stones Gambling Hall, Tournament Director Justin Kuraitis and several unnamed defendants, including a 'Chief Confederate', are also put forward.
Who this unnamed 'John Doe 1' is remains a mystery but this suggests there is evidence mounting against a potential partner in Postle's alleged cheating. There are 10 John Does and 10 Jane Does, leaving the door open for more defendants to be announced later. The venue and Kuraitis have been named in the negligence and fraud charges, not the conspiracy charges, for failing to police the games and publicly dismissing the initial cheating allegations.
As this is a civil suit the plaintiffs only need to show there is more than a 50% chance that cheating occurred. Given how much evidence has already been compiled by the poker community, it looks like the plaintiffs have a good chance of taking this case all the way.
Elsewhere, the graphics company behind the technology used in the Stones Live Poker streams has also shed some light on this case. Several hands have been reported where it appears Postle is aware of RFID errors during the streams that even the commentators were unaware of. Speaking to PokerNews, Andrew Milner of PokerGFX suggested that a now infamous '86 hand' where hole card graphics were changed on the stream mid hand could only have been done manually "in a moment of panic".
One of the most INSANE hands from Mike/the show w/ all their memes
The show somehow changes the graphics at the end of the hand & says there was an error because Mike told them the RFID was incorrect. This is the 3RD TIME they allege this error happened always in Mike's favor. pic.twitter.com/UOnYYhB2lq
— Joey Ingram 🤙ðŸ»ðŸ¤™ðŸ» (@Joeingram1) October 2, 2019
This story shows no signs of slowing down and now that a lawsuit has been brought, expect more mainstream media attention to come poker's way.
What are your thoughts on this case? Let us know in the comments:
