On Thursday we finally heard from Absolute Poker, which was the only poker room yet to respond to the seizures and indictments handed down this past Friday by the DOJ and FBI. The statement from Absolute Poker shows them moving in a slightly different direction than PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker, both of whom have already reached an agreement with the DOJ in terms of regaining their .com domain names.

Here is the full statement issued by Absolute Poker; the site’s first since Absolute Poker, Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars shut down on Friday:

“Absolute Poker has retained Blank Rome LLP as United States counsel to provide legal advice in relation to civil and criminal matters filed in federal court in Manhattan and made public on April 15, 2011. Absolute Poker is aware that on April 19, 2011, the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York entered into separate agreements with FullTilt Poker and PokerStars. These agreements concern the use of the respective www.fulltiltpoker.com and www.pokerstars.com domain names. The US Attorney, in a press release dated April 20, 2011, stated that the government is willing to enter the same agreement with Absolute Poker and UB.

“At this time, Absolute Poker’s top priority is, and must be, the refund of balances to its and UB’s US players. However, given the far-reaching consequences of the US Attorney’s actions for Absolute Poker and for the entire poker community, Absolute Poker believes that the responsible course of action is to review with its attorneys the relevant court filings before taking any action.”

“Absolute Poker believes that the US Attorney shares the view that refunds to US players are an immediate and pressing concern, and Absolute Poker wishes to make clear that it wants to work cooperatively with the US Attorney to safely and efficiently return its players’ funds. To that end, Absolute Poker’s counsel has initiated communications with the US Attorney’s office and plans to continue proactively advancing those discussions.”

“Further information and timely updates will be provided to Absolute Poker/UB’s players as we move forward.”

Stay tuned as more developments unfold after the DOJ and FBI shuts down US poker sites.

Tags: Absolute Poker, Black Friday, Blank Rome Llp, Consequences, Court Filings, Criminal Matters, doj, Domain Names, Fbi, Full tilt Poker, Indictments, Legal Advice, Manhattan, Poker Room, PokerStars, Rome, Seizures, Southern District Of New York, Top Priority, UB

This entry was posted on Friday, April 22nd, 2011 at 6:06 am and is filed under Poker News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.