Alleged Poker Cheat Mike Postle Drops $330 Million Defamation SuitBy Dismissing The Suit, He Will Automatically Lose The Anti-SLAPP Motions Filed By Veronica Brill And Todd Witteles |
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The alleged cheating saga surrounding Mike Postle looks like it finally came to an end as Postle is dropping his $330 million defamation lawsuit against many in the poker community, including whistleblower Veronica Brill.
Postle filed the request Thursday with the Sacramento County Superior Court. Marc Randazza, a Las Vegas-based attorney that was representing Brill in the defamation case, tweeted a photo of the filing and said that since Postle is no longer pursuing the defamation case, he will lose the Anti-SLAPP lawsuits he was facing from a couple of the defendants in the case.
“You can’t just cut and run,” tweeted Randazza. “You automatically lose the Anti-SLAPP motion if you do that.”
Brill and poker pro Todd Witteles, who were both listed as defendants in the defamation case, filed anti-SLAPP motions against Postle. SLAPP is an acronym for strategic lawsuit against public participation. According to the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, SLAPPs have become a tool used by some to intimidate and silence criticism through an expensive and baseless legal process.
Anti-SLAPP laws are intended to protect people exercising their free speech from these proceedings. Since these motions were filed, Randazza claims that by dismissing the defamation suit, Postle will automatically lose the anti-SLAPP motions.
“Mike voluntarily dropped the case against me and many others,” tweeted Brill. “Now he owes me my legal fees.”
Postle filed a $330 million defamation case last October. He was seeking damages and injunctive relief for defamation and slander, trade libel, false light, intentional interference with prospective economic advantage, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
The suit listed Witteles, Brill, six-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner Daniel Negreanu, high-stakes gambler Haralbos Voulgaris, Joe Ingram, ESPN, and Poker News media as defendants. As well as training sites Upswing Poker, Run It Once, Crush Live Poker, Solve For Why, and Poker Coaching, which are run by poker pros Doug Polk, Phil Galfond, Bart Hanson, Matt Berkey and Jonathan Little, respectively.
Just two months later, it came to light that Postle’s lawyers filed paperwork to drop him as a client. Witteles’ lawyer, Eric Bensamochan , said that the filing likely stems from a lack of payment by Postle. In January, a judge upheld the request and Postle no longer had representation for the suit.
Many accused Postle of cheating in a low-stakes live streamed poker game at Stones Gambling Hall in the Sacramento area. He reportedly won upwards of $250,000 in mostly $1-$3 and $2-$5 no-limit hold’em games on Stones’s live stream through very unorthodox play.
Brill and many other prominent professionals broke down hours of footage and illustrated how they thought Postle was cheating. While there was no concrete answer as to how it was being done, the consensus from those looking at the footage was that Postle was obtaining information about his opponents’ hole cards from the live stream.
Gambling attorney Mac VerStandig undertook a $30 million lawsuit, representing Brill and 88 others against Postle, Stones Gambling Hall and Justin Kuriaitis, the property’s Tournament Director who was also in charge of the live stream.
A California judge ultimately dismissed the charges against Postle and most plaintiffs accepted a settlement offer from Kuraitis and Stones Gambling Hall.
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