PokerStars received a bit of good news this week as the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced it would be releasing one of the bank accounts it seized from the site on Black Friday. The only stipulation placed on the account is that PokerStars must maintain an account balance of $5.5 million –the amount calculated to have been from US players.

The total amount that was being held in the account is unknown, but the decision by the DOJ allows PokerStars the ability to access any assets held in the account at the Bank Hapoalim (Suisse) SA in Luxembourg in the name of Sphene International—a PokerStars payment processor. Several other accounts in the name of Sphene International are still frozen.

Here is a look at the statement that was released explaining the recent action:

“WHEREAS, the Government and PokerStars have reached an agreement pursuant to which PokerStars consents to the restraint of $5.5 million in the Account for the pendency of the above captioned case, and the Government agrees that it does not object to PokerStars’ use of the remaining funds in that account”.

Whether the DOJ’s actions turns out to be little more than a procedural move or if it signals an upcoming settlement between the DOJ and PokerStars remains to be seen at this point, but it should be noted that of all the poker sites to fall victim to the US government PokerStars has been the most forthright and cooperative; which is something that may play into their favor as the legal cases unfold.

Tags: 5 Million, Account Balance, Assets, Bank Accounts, Bank Hapoalim, Black Friday, Consents, Department Of Justice, doj, Luxembourg, Payment Processor, Pendency, Poker Sites, PokerStars, Procedural Move, Sphene, Stipulation, Suisse, Us Government

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 8th, 2011 at 10:30 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.