Mike Postle recently filed a $300 million lawsuit in a Sacramento court. The accused poker cheater seeks retribution for alleged libel and defamation from numerous members of the poker community, poker media, and even ESPN. We now have access to the full document that is currently being processed by the court.
If you're wondering what ESPN, the largest sports network in the U.S., has to do with this, SportsCenter host Scott Van Pelt briefly covered the Postle story last October. Postle is also suing poker podcaster Joey Ingram, who investigated the cheating allegations on his YouTube channel, whistleblower Veronica Brill, Doug Polk's Run it Once poker training company, Daniel Negreanu, Todd Witteles, PokerNews, Haralabos Voulgairis, Matt Berkey's Solve for Why poker training company, and he even saved room for 1,000 Jane Does just in case he decides to sue some others along the way.
Postle was accused by Brill of cheating during numerous Stones Live streams a year ago. Brill claims he used some sort of electronic device to decipher his opponent's hole cards. Although he's refused to conduct interviews with anyone in the poker media since his heavily criticized conversation with Mike Matusow last October, Postle has always maintained his innocence.
He never faced criminal charges but did face a $10 million lawsuit from Brill and 87 other plaintiffs. The case was eventually settled for pennies on the dollar after the judge refused to send it to a jury trial on the basis that California law essentially prevents those who were cheated from recovering gambling losses.
But Postle has taken issue with many in the poker community for almost collectively calling him a cheater. In response, he filed a lawsuit against the aforementioned businesses and individuals.
What's in the lawsuit?
The lawsuit, filed by his attorneys — Low & Associates — states that Postle has been a professional poker player since 2003, long before Stones Live was even around.
"Poker has been Postle's primary source of income since 2003," the lawsuit reads.
The purpose of mentioning that in the lawsuit is to show that Postle didn't just start making money playing poker in the Stones Live games. He has, as the document claims, been a profitable player for many years.
The lawsuit also states that there's no proof that Postle cheated. As such, Postle is seeking financial compensation for what he claims to be libel and defamation.
"As early as October 2, 2019, just four days after the initial allegations from Defendant Brill were published, Defendants were already defaming Plaintiff by stating, definitively, that he 100% cheated as fact," the lawsuit reads.
Postle's attorneys then rip into Brill's claims. On paragraph 32: "Beginning on or about September 28, 2019 and continuing through todays date, Defendant Brill has made and published false and defamatory statements about Plaintiff. The following paragraphs provide context, are exemplary, and do not constitute all of the false and defamatory statements made by this Defendant."
In one paragraph, attorneys allege that Brill has a history of making "wild accusations" about others, and claims "none of which have ever been substantiated."
"Plaintiff is informed and believes Defendants negligently, recklessly, and/or intentionally caused external publications of defamation, of and concerning Plaintiff, to third persons and to the community, as set forth hereinabove. These false and defamatory statements included express and implied, purportedly factual, statements that Plaintiff is a cheater and cheated during Stones Live events," the document continues.
Postle is seeking over $300 million in damages total from all defendants. No trial date has been set.
Featured image source: Twitter/@Mike_Postle
