Ifrah Law PLLC’s Jeff Ifrah and David Deitch have been representing a number of Full Tilt Poker defendants that were named in a class action lawsuit by a number of Full Tilt Poker players who wanted their funds back. The defendants were in breach of RICO, the Racketeer Influenced and Corruption Organization Act of 1961. The act was passed in order to charge the leaders of the mafia with the crimes that they have organized and ordered, but did not commit themselves. On Wednesday, Ifrah and Deitch said that they want out of the class action and that they want to step down from being “Attorneys of Record”
Ifrah and Deitch
The lawyers did represent a number of defendants in the class action and these defendants include a number of companies and individuals including Tiltware LLC, Vantage Ltd, Filco Ltd, Pocket kings Ltd, Pocket Kings Consulting Ltd, Howard Lederer, Chris Ferguson, Jennifer Harman, Eric Lindgren, Andrew Bloch, Mike Matusow, Allen Cunningham, and Erik Seidel. Although Ifrah and Deitch wanted to step down as the “Attorneys of Record”, they really have no choice in the matter as they cannot simply step down from defending the mentioned companies and players until an alternative representation arises. Ifrah and Deitch may also need court approval before they can step down, which will ultimately take a bit of time to prepare.
Reasons for Withdrawing on the Case
There are a number of possible reasons why the two lawyers now wish to step down as the representatives. It could be that Full Tilt Poker is indeed running out of cash to pay the law firm as evidenced by the statement on Wednesday “would result in an unreasonable financial burden to our law firm”. If this is indeed the case, players whose funds are “frozen” won’t exactly be happy about it. Another possible reason would be for the safety of Jeff Ifrah. It is possible that Ifrah has received some sort of threat and now worries about his safety as he was pretty much open about his profile on the 2plus2 forum. Another possible reason for declining from the case is that it is a possible delaying tactic. A switch of representatives means that the new representatives will familiarize themselves with the matter first, which will ultimately result in a delay I the class action lawsuit.
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