Attorney in Full Tilt Poker ‘Black Friday’ Case to be Denied Lawyer Fees

The attorney for a defendant in the notorious “Black Friday” online poker investigation will be stiffed.

The website 4Flush.com is reporting that Jeff Ifrah will not be receiving attorney’s fees for his representation of “Black Friday” defendant Chad Elie. Ifrah represented Elie, who processed payments for online gambling companies Full Tilt Poker, PokerStars and Absolute Poker in violation of federal law.

Mr. Elie filed an eight-count action against Ifrah for legal “malpractice” alleging his former lawyer misguided him.

And while seven of those eight counts were dismissed, one count unrelated to “Black Friday” prevents compensation of Ifrah, at least for the time being.

From 4Flush.com:

Elie’s Viable Marketing business had been targeted in a separate, non-poker action, and in a bizarre series of events that also involved Elie being sued by a front company for PokerStars over a disputed $4 million withdrawn by Elie from a California bank account once used for poker-processing purposes.  Elie and the Ifrah-advised PokerStars interests resolved their dispute and agreed to work together for other processing, which became the ill-fated SunFirst Bank (UT) operation, while Ifrah also agreed to represent Elie in the Viable Marketing matter.

This eighth allegation, in which Elie claimed that Ifrah committed malpractice in missing a filing deadline connected to Elie’s separate Viable Marketing matter, was dismissed by presiding judge James C. Mahan for being unripe, meaning that appeals are still pending in the case, in which Elie and Viable Marketing were ordered to pay a civil judgment to Partner Weekly LLC.

As 4Flush.com points out, that single allegation can now be refiled based on the notion that, at a later date, it could become “ripe”.

- Ace King, Gambling911.com