Boss media servers seized!

[dominique]

Here goes a report that will have widespread repercussions:

POKERTRILLION.com has been successful in its Application to Seize Boss Media Servers in Malta

Malta August 18, 2008 –The online poker site POKERTRILLION.com has announced that on 18th August 2008 at the First Hall Civil Court, Malta (Court record and Complaint Number 755-08), Judge Gino Camilleri issued a judgement authorising Trillion Ltd to enforce seizure of the Boss Media Malta Limited and Boss Media AB servers, and that these servers cease being used for any commercial activity as from 18th September 2008 with Boss Media not being allowed to appeal the court’s decision any further.

This judgement, which relates to Trillion Limited’s multi-million Euro law suit for breach of contract against Boss Media AB and their associated companies, comes off the back of a number of successful applications made to the courts in Malta by Trillion Ltd. POKERTRILLION.com C.E.O Andy Pyrah explains, “Today’s decision will in effect bring down Boss Media’s operation in their licensed jurisdiction of Malta on September 18, and any partner still on the Boss (IPN) Poker Network at this stage will see their service closed down too”.

The judge further ordered that the cosignatory which is now responsible for the equipment also provides full accounts of the revenues being generated from this equipment.

Pyrah comments further, “It should also be noted that despite appeals from Boss Media, we’ve been successful in every one of our applications that we’ve filed with the courts in Malta and this includes having our initial garnishee order increased from €5million to €20million earlier this month, this in turn means that there is now a €20million freezing order on all Boss Media’s assets within this jurisdiction, and in accordance with European law we will be applying for this to be executed all over Europe”.

boss media seizure

[bartongrl1]

What all types of repercussions do you see coming from this? And how do you think it will effect the overall gaming issues that we are so anxiously awaiting some action on?

[dominique]

Well, boss has a bunch of poker rooms - Virgin Poker, Celeb poker, Sportingbet, Bwin, Svenskaspel, William Hill and Casino Club. All huge European networks.

Players, affiliates, and probably cleaningladies may have trouble collecting, it knocks out most of the european poker.

There are also a bunch of casinos using the software.

[stacy123]

Wow, that is huge. From what you said it sounds as though online gaming has basically been brought to its knees in Europe. This will have major repercussions! Will this have any effect on U.S. gaming do you think? What exactly was the breach of cntract that caused this?

[dominique]

Well, here is Boss' response and it pretty much explains everything:

Boss Media responds to asset freeze claims
Boss Media has responded to a news article published this morning claiming the First Hall Civil Court of Malta had found in favour of claimant Poker Trillion and frozen Boss Media’s assets and ordered its web servers to stop commercial activity form 18 September 2008.

The dispute between Boss and Poker Trillion originated when the latter was thrown off Boss Media’s poker network for “rake back violations”. Poker Trillion then launched a lawsuit against Boss after its dismissal from the network in April and asked for a freezing order to be applied to all Boss media’s assets in Malta, the jurisdiction where Boss is licensed.

Boss has continued to operate since and described the actions and comments by Poker Trillion as “a reckless attempt to support a legal action that is without merit and initiated as retribution for their dismissal from the Boss Media network”.

Commenting on the court’s verdict this morning, Andy Pyrah, chief executive of Poker Trillion, said: “Today’s decision will in effect bring down Boss Media’s operation in their licensed jurisdiction in Malta on September 18, and any partner on the Boss (IPN) poker network at this stage will see their service closed down too.”

Boss added that there had been preliminary hearings on the lawsuit and “assured that adequate security is provided in Malta in the event of an award of damages against it which we believe to be unlikely”. It said it had “the requisite assets in place to ensure that our business will continue to operate with the highest standards. In the extremely unlikely event that any Malta operations would be affected, Boss Media have high-performance back-up systems in place to ensure continued service to all our customers and their players”.

The statement by Boss added: “To be clear, player funds are not affected by the current proceedings. All players’ funds are held separately under the control of the Malta Lotteries and Gaming Authority and cannot be seized by any court.

“Poker Trillion is a former customer of Boss Media who was terminated because of rake back violations. They have since then repeatedly tried to disrupt the Boss Media business through the dissemination of groundless rumours. In April 2008 Poker Trillion alleged in a press release a claim that among other things, Boss Media player funds were frozen. The allegations were false but typical of the type of tactics employed by Poker Trillion.”

So it seems they were prepared for this....