Another blow for Postle
A judge in California has dished out more bad news to alleged poker cheat Mike Postle. The court has ordered him to pay $27,745 in legal fees to Veronica Brill, the lead defendant in a $330m defamation lawsuit filed by Postle last year.
Poker pro and commentator Brill was the person who initially brought Postle’s cheating allegations to light. Despite the money on the line, Postle did not appear for Wednesday’s final hearing on the case, meaning the judgment is enforceable with immediate effect. The ruling serves as part of an anti-SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) lawsuit.
the second time that a judge has ordered Postle to fund legal fees
It’s now the second time that a judge has ordered Postle to fund legal fees as a result of his own defamation lawsuit. After a similar court case in May, the alleged cheat must also pay $26,982 to a professional poker player and co-defendant in the lawsuit, Todd Witteles.
The end of the story?
The monies owed to Brill and Witteles are now the final loose ends in the cheating saga surrounding Postle. Through his $330m lawsuit, Postle sought injunctive relief for defamation and slander, trade libel, false light, intentional interference with prospective economic advantage, and intentional inflection of emotional distress.
Along with Brill and Witteles, the alleged cheater’s suit also named poker stars Daniel Negreanu and Haralabos Voulgaris as defendants, in addition to Joe Ingram of ESPN and Poker News. Ten of the 12 named never even responded to the claims.
Postle automatically lost these lawsuits when he dropped his own defamation case in April
Unlike their co-defendants, Brill and Witteles decided to pursue anti-SLAPP motions in response to the accusations. Postle automatically lost these lawsuits when he dropped his own defamation case in April. Brill tweeted at the time, confirming that she expected the alleged cheat to pay her legal fees:
Although the court has now sided with Witteles and Brill in both of their cases, they must now collect the $55,727 themselves. Eric Benzamochan, who served as legal defense to Witteles, has confirmed that he intends to collect the money on behalf of his client. Brill’s attorney, Marc J. Randazza, has not made any similar statement so far.
An unlikely winning streak
The Postle cheating saga goes all the way back to September 2019. The poker player stood accused of cheating in a low-stakes live-streamed game at Stones Gambling Hall in the Sacramento arena. He reportedly won upwards of $250,000 at the event betting in mostly $1-$3 and $2-$5 No-Limit Hold’em games.
The accusations against Postle began with Veronica Brill, who worked as a commentator on numerous Stones Live poker streams. Along with many other prominent poker professionals, Brill broke down hours of footage to provide evidence of Postle’s cheating. These poker pros determined that Postle was obtaining information about his opponents’ cards from the live stream.
Veronica Bill voiced her concerns on her Twitter page at the time:
Representing Brill and 88 others, gambling attorney Mac VerStandig filed a $30m lawsuit against Postle, Stones Gambling Hall, and the property’s tournament director Justin Kuraitis. In September last year, 61 of those 88 agreed to a settlement with the gambling venue. Neither the poker pros nor Stones Gambling Hall have made the financial terms of the deal public.