Absolute Poker co-founder Scott Tom has returned to his home in Antigua after serving a week in a United States jail on illegal gambling charges. Tom faced multiple felony charges after being indicted on April 15, 2011… also known as Black Friday. He reached a plea deal with US prosecutors on May 31 in which he agreed to plead guilty to a single count of being an accessory after the fact in the transmission of gambling information (a misdemeanor). As part of his plea deal, Tom agreed to forfeit $300,000k and was released on bail ahead of his sentencing on…

US online poker players who were owed money by two long defunct online poker sites — Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet — will be getting more than $30 million of their money back. The US government, via a third party, recently announced it would be refunding “almost $33.5 million.” The news came from the Garden City Group, which is handling the remissions process, via a website dedicated to refunding players’ money. More from the announcement: GCG has been informed that the Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section of the Department of Justice (MLARS) has approved a first round of payments…

Scott Tom, former Absolute Poker president and Black Friday defendant, apparently has reached a plea deal with US prosecutors that will see him facing minimal jail time, if any at all. Tom stood accused by federal authorities of multiple felonies related to online gambling, and by the poker community of facilitating a major cheating scandal. According to documents reviewed by CalvinAyre.com journalists and revealed publicly earlier this week, on May 31, prosecutors accepted an agreement for Tom to plead guilty to a single misdemeanor charge of being an accessory after the fact in the transmission of gambling information, for which…

Scott Tom, former Absolute Poker president and Black Friday defendant, apparently has reached a plea deal with US prosecutors that will see him facing minimal jail time, if any at all. Tom stood accused by federal authorities of multiple felonies related to online gambling, and by the poker community of facilitating a major cheating scandal. According to documents reviewed by CalvinAyre.com journalists and revealed publicly earlier this week, on May 31, prosecutors accepted an agreement for Tom to plead guilty to a single misdemeanor charge of being an accessory after the fact in the transmission of gambling information, for which…

The US Department of Justice announced on Monday that class action settlement company Garden City Group (GCG) will monitor the process for the compensation of Absolute Poker players who were not able to withdraw their funds from the online poker room after it was faced with a civil action for money laundering, illegal gambling provision, and other allegations back in 2011. Here it is important to note that GCG had previously been charged with overseeing the repayment process of affected Full Tilt Poker players. Up to now, the amount of $118 million has been returned to their rightful owners. However,…

The founder of what had been one of the largest online poker websites agreed on Thursday to confront U.S. charges stemming from a long-running criminal case targeting internet firms like his operating illegally in the United States. Scott Tom, who founded Costa Rica-based Absolute Poker, pleaded not guilty in Manhattan federal court to charges he violated a federal internet gambling law and engaged in a money-laundering conspiracy. Tom, a citizen of Saint Kitts and Nevis who lived in Antigua, arrived in the United States voluntarily from Barbados on Thursday to face the charges, prosecutors said. He was released on a…