Black Friday indictee Elie agrees to forfeitures

Chad Elie, one of the 11 individuals indicted on Black Friday, has agreed to relinquish his claims to 22 separate bank accounts whose contents total at least US$490,000.

The forfeiture follows the acceptance by Judge Lewis Kaplan of the 32-year-old Nevada resident’s plea deal last month, an agreement which, along with that of fellow indictee John Campos, meant a trial scheduled for April 9 was adjourned.

Most of the accounts in question are held in the United States, with the exception of two in Cyprus and two in the United Kingdom, with all 22 tied to one of a number of separate companies rather than Elie or any other individual. All 22 were included in a claim issued by Elie on 15 July last year.

Only one of the accounts, held in SunFirst Bank, the Utah-based institution once part-owned by Campos, makes reference to any of the three poker companies named in the Black Friday indictment. This account is described as “formerly in the name of Sunfirst [sic] Bank ITF Powder Monkeys/Full Tilt, now in the name of Sunfirst Bank.”

Of the accounts with monetary assets explicitly tied to them, one ““ in the name of Viable Marketing Corp and held with the Bank of America ““ contains $410,449.43.

In a release issued by the US government, it is noted that Elie’s claim is dismissed with prejudice, while guaranteeing that Elie waives any right to future litigation concerning the property in question.

Elie was the fifth of six indictees to enter a guilty plea, and five individuals tied to Full Tilt Poker, PokerStars and Absolute Poker are still yet to enter their respective pleas.

PokerStars remains in settlement discussions with the United States Department of Justice, as per a statement issued by the operator’s head of corporate communications Eric Hollreiser last week, although the stage of the discussions and their relation to indicted individuals Isai Scheinberg and Paul Tate is unknown.