AFFL - Lawsuit Filed (1 Viewer)

[buck naked]

The winner of the AFFL's Gold Division, Jeff Gill, has not been paid his $60,000.00 Grand Prize, or received his $9,000 Waterford crystal trophy or custom made trophy. By the AFFL's own Rules, these were to be paid by February 8, 2010.

 

[KellysHeroes]

I feel bad for you and anyone else that hasn't gotten their money from this

 

[buck naked]

I feel bad for you and anyone else that hasn't gotten their money from this

It is my client, but I feel his pain. I'm a player just like he is.

 

[JohnnyU]

Won't they just file bankruptcy and then startup another contest under a different name?

 

[buck naked]

Won't they just file bankruptcy and then startup another contest under a different name?

Edit

 

[radballs]

Interested to see how this plays out. I thought the LLC or C Corp filing would allow the owners individual protection from lawsuits. Didn't know that if it involves "fraud" that it can still follow them. Nail 'em to the wall if you can.

 

[BassNBrew]

Won't they just file bankruptcy and then startup another contest under a different name?

Maybe the company. But the lawsuit is also against them individually for fraud. Many types of fraud are non-dischargeable in bankruptcy.

Isn't this the same company name that pull the same stunt the year before or am i confusing it with another?

 

[phthalatemagic]

Typical MO by the site owner here is to banish all negative AFFL threads to the "Looking for Leagues" forum, the site equivalent to Siberia. I think it's because someone is friends with someone.

I wish you luck buck naked!

 

[RC94]

I hope this thread stays in the Shark Pool...

 

[massraider]

Please keep us updated. Good luck.

 

[Getinthemix]

Let's move this to the Looking for Leagues forum.

 

[Leroy's Aces]

David and Joe do take this subject very seriously. I know that they are not accepting ads for contests going forward unless they have verifiable escrow, or use LeagueSafe or FantasyVault. They are forgoing ad revenue to protect Footballguys members. No matter where this thread ends up, that is very honorable of them.

 

[Anonymous Internet User]

We should come up with a list of all the similar delinquent contests run in the last few years. There's been more than half a dozen, if I recall correctly. One of them owed me $1000.

 

[zadok]

Here's hoping this leads to many more similar suits. And here's hoping this thread stays here and open...

 

[Fish]

The winner of the AFFL's Gold Division, Jeff Gill, has not been paid his $60,000.00 Grand Prize, or received his $9,000 Waterford crystal trophy or custom made trophy. By the AFFL's own Rules, these were to be paid by February 8, 2010.

The owners of AFFL rejected our reasonable attempts to resolve their failure to pay Jeff. The truth is, they cannot pay him right now. All we received from them in return was their stated intent to still pay Jeff. Their words mean nothing. We already had a promise that they would pay the cash prizes and awards in their Rules - in fact they "guaranteed" payment.

We were left with no choice but to file this: http://www.snsfe-law.com/docs/complaint041310.pdf

The claims are for violation of the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act, fraud, and breach of contract, against the two owners and their company, Chicago Fantasy Sports, LLC.

No one else should have to go through these situations anymore in the fantasy gaming industry. The AFFL brought this upon themselves, now they can feel the full consequences.

Guys, my name is Jeff Gill and my FF moniker/team name is Fish.

Thanks for the support from everyone. They promised and promised they would pay, so I offered them the choice to pay me later if they would sign a personal guarantee.

They refused, so I guess their "word" isn't worth much if they won't back it up with a signature.

You know more than anything, they just took all the fun out of winning. I don't really play this game for the money, I play for the challenge and the fun. This is supposed to be fun.

For your reading pleasure:

http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2010/04...ll-contest.html

I've never posted here before but I've read many, many pages and consider this a great MB. This subject matter should be prominent for all FF players to see, so that they can make intelligent choices when deciding where and how to invest their FF dollars. I hope that this thread can stay prominent, for the protection of innocent internet surfers who might make the same mistake I did because they were uninformed about the FF landscape.

As an example, I was told by Wade that the AFFL received over 400 new signups in 2008........that was immediately following the 2007 season when Neil Wickham didn't pay anyone to my knowledge. That's sad and it needs to be stopped.

 

[Yellow Line is Unoffcial]

We should come up with a list of all the similar delinquent contests run in the last few years. There's been more than half a dozen, if I recall correctly. One of them owed me $1000.

The newly formed Fantasy Players Assoc will be keeping tabs on all fantasy contests, If and how quickly they pay and will be an open forum for players to discuss any red flags that they may notice.Scott Adkins aka Team Legacy is spearheading the launch.

Check out http://www.fantasyplayersassociation.com/

 

[TitusIII]

Best of luck, I'd like to hear why the AFFL does not have the money. It seems as though they should have more than enough if most players had to pay the entry fee.

Nevertheless, members of this board, myself included, should be on the lookout for the names involved in this dispute, and warn others if and when they start a new league.

EDIT: The post above mine is a step in the right direction. Good to see...

 

[BassNBrew]

The winner of the AFFL's Gold Division, Jeff Gill, has not been paid his $60,000.00 Grand Prize, or received his $9,000 Waterford crystal trophy or custom made trophy. By the AFFL's own Rules, these were to be paid by February 8, 2010.

The owners of AFFL rejected our reasonable attempts to resolve their failure to pay Jeff. The truth is, they cannot pay him right now. All we received from them in return was their stated intent to still pay Jeff. Their words mean nothing. We already had a promise that they would pay the cash prizes and awards in their Rules - in fact they "guaranteed" payment.

We were left with no choice but to file this: http://www.snsfe-law.com/docs/complaint041310.pdf

The claims are for violation of the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act, fraud, and breach of contract, against the two owners and their company, Chicago Fantasy Sports, LLC.

No one else should have to go through these situations anymore in the fantasy gaming industry. The AFFL brought this upon themselves, now they can feel the full consequences.

Guys, my name is Jeff Gill and my FF moniker/team name is Fish.

Thanks for the support from everyone. They promised and promised they would pay, so I offered them the choice to pay me later if they would sign a personal guarantee.

They refused, so I guess their "word" isn't worth much if they won't back it up with a signature.

You know more than anything, they just took all the fun out of winning. I don't really play this game for the money, I play for the challenge and the fun. This is supposed to be fun.

For your reading pleasure:

http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2010/04...ll-contest.html

I've never posted here before but I've read many, many pages and consider this a great MB. This subject matter should be prominent for all FF players to see, so that they can make intelligent choices when deciding where and how to invest their FF dollars. I hope that this thread can stay prominent, for the protection of innocent internet surfers who might make the same mistake I did because they were uninformed about the FF landscape.

As an example, I was told by Wade that the AFFL received over 400 new signups in 2008........that was immediately following the 2007 season when Neil Wickham didn't pay anyone to my knowledge. That's sad and it needs to be stopped.

Gill paid his entry fees through monetary credits owed to him by the American Fantasy Football League, according to the complaint. The defendants allegedly stated that winnings would be mailed out by Feb. 8.

The lawsuit alleges that one of the defendants named in the suit, Robert Smolarczyk, acknowledged that Gill won the trophy. Another defendant, Wade Golab, told Gill that they did not have the money to pay him the prizes.

The defendants have paid Gill $5,900. Golab said in an interview with the Tribune that he understands Gill's position for seeking the money but that a lawsuit is unnecessary.

"We've already paid him some of the money that we owe him," Golab said, without elaborating on why the rest of prize money has not been awarded.

I think that first sentence may end up being their out. Regardless, these guys came off as being shady to me in their posts on this message board.

 

[QuizGuy66]

Nothing personally at stake for me (thank goodness) but have been following this story all along and am very interested in how it all turns out.

-QG

 

[Leroy's Aces]

The winner of the AFFL's Gold Division, Jeff Gill, has not been paid his $60,000.00 Grand Prize, or received his $9,000 Waterford crystal trophy or custom made trophy. By the AFFL's own Rules, these were to be paid by February 8, 2010.

The owners of AFFL rejected our reasonable attempts to resolve their failure to pay Jeff. The truth is, they cannot pay him right now. All we received from them in return was their stated intent to still pay Jeff. Their words mean nothing. We already had a promise that they would pay the cash prizes and awards in their Rules - in fact they "guaranteed" payment.

We were left with no choice but to file this: http://www.snsfe-law.com/docs/complaint041310.pdf

The claims are for violation of the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act, fraud, and breach of contract, against the two owners and their company, Chicago Fantasy Sports, LLC.

No one else should have to go through these situations anymore in the fantasy gaming industry. The AFFL brought this upon themselves, now they can feel the full consequences.

Guys, my name is Jeff Gill and my FF moniker/team name is Fish.

Thanks for the support from everyone. They promised and promised they would pay, so I offered them the choice to pay me later if they would sign a personal guarantee.

They refused, so I guess their "word" isn't worth much if they won't back it up with a signature.

You know more than anything, they just took all the fun out of winning. I don't really play this game for the money, I play for the challenge and the fun. This is supposed to be fun.

For your reading pleasure:

http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2010/04...ll-contest.html

I've never posted here before but I've read many, many pages and consider this a great MB. This subject matter should be prominent for all FF players to see, so that they can make intelligent choices when deciding where and how to invest their FF dollars. I hope that this thread can stay prominent, for the protection of innocent internet surfers who might make the same mistake I did because they were uninformed about the FF landscape.

As an example, I was told by Wade that the AFFL received over 400 new signups in 2008........that was immediately following the 2007 season when Neil Wickham didn't pay anyone to my knowledge. That's sad and it needs to be stopped.

Gill paid his entry fees through monetary credits owed to him by the American Fantasy Football League, according to the complaint. The defendants allegedly stated that winnings would be mailed out by Feb. 8.

The lawsuit alleges that one of the defendants named in the suit, Robert Smolarczyk, acknowledged that Gill won the trophy. Another defendant, Wade Golab, told Gill that they did not have the money to pay him the prizes.

The defendants have paid Gill $5,900. Golab said in an interview with the Tribune that he understands Gill's position for seeking the money but that a lawsuit is unnecessary.

"We've already paid him some of the money that we owe him," Golab said, without elaborating on why the rest of prize money has not been awarded.

I think that first sentence may end up being their out. Regardless, these guys came off as being shady to me in their posts on this message board.

Yours is a valid point. However, they did offer and accept the credits as entries and acknowledged to Jeff that he won the contest and to expect the prize payout on February 8th, their guaranteed payout date. Jeff's had credits from the 2007 AFFL from whch Neil Wickham defrauded people. The $75,000 grand prize winner from AFFL 2007 was going to take his family to Disneyworld and has still never been paid to my knowledge. That still pisses me off to think about; mainly because my family loves going to Disneyworld. And don't forget Mike Williams and Scott Gunaca from FantasyJungle. They are still out there and have never made good to their prizewinners either to my knowledge.

 

[Shutout]

I am kind of new here. Is this a site that advertised on this forum? I really didn't know that fradulent FF leagues were a real concerning issue.

 

[massraider]

I am kind of new here. Is this a site that advertised on this forum? I really didn't know that fradulent FF leagues were a real concerning issue.

It is. There's another league, whose name escaped me, that advertised the 1st million dollar prize, and has run into problems this past season.

 

[Cassius]

whiiiiite corner.

 

[Fish]

I am kind of new here. Is this a site that advertised on this forum? I really didn't know that fradulent FF leagues were a real concerning issue.

Which is EXACTLY why the word needs to be spread !!!!According to Wade (as of 2008 the new co-owner of AFFL), over 400 new sign-ups in 2008 when the previous owner had just stolen all the money from the immediately preceding season

 

[Sweet Love]

I am kind of new here. Is this a site that advertised on this forum? I really didn't know that fradulent FF leagues were a real concerning issue.

It is. There's another league, whose name escaped me, that advertised the 1st million dollar prize, and has run into problems this past season.

And therein lies the real problem. Because of fierce comptetion, these guys have to advertise what you can make prior to collecting fees, so people will join. I have never entered anything like this because my first thought is "well, it is June...how do you know whether you will get enough entrants to cover your contest"? I just never "got it" and I am guessing this is a valid thought. WCOFF and a few others are in the unique situation where they know they will get the entrants, so it is not an issue. I would love for someone to advertise..."Payout is dependent on amount of entries", but wouldn't we be skeptical whether they are pocketing 50% of the monies?? It is a Catch-22, which is why I never get involved in something like this.

 

[Beefeaters]

Congratulations on beating everyone else Fish! That kicks ### even if it sucks to have to sue for your winnings. Good luck!

 

[Fish]

Here's a copy/paste from the AFFL MB

quote:

ORIGINAL: Billy Bs Cutoff

Jeff,

Thanks for sharing! A couple of questions:

1) Did you receive 1/4 payment along w/ the letter that many of the rest of us received?

2) Are you aware of whether or not the two properties that they referred to in their payment letter actually existed at this point? If not, I'm sure that you will find out in the discovery phase of your suit.

Good luck!

To the rest of you. If you haven't been paid, please contact me at [email protected] . I'd like to keep in touch, just in case this forum is shut down following Jeff's filing.

Thanks,

Ty

Answers:

1) I have received $5,900 to date, but that was in a reactive manner. They were never, ever proactive about paying me anything. In fact, we traded some e-mails (which I initiated) from the end of the season up until mid-February and the entire time they never once indicated that the funds were not available. I found out for the first time that they couldn't or wouldn't pay me via a phone call once I finally said, "hey where's the money" (paraphrase)

Keep in mind:

I won my Gold league.......$1800

I won the Gold overall.....$60,000

I won an individual $500 entry league.....$3600

I placed 3rd in another $500 indy.......$500

I won the $9,000 Waterford Crystal Trophy in week 17 against the other level winners......$9,000 value

According to their rules I should also receive an additional trophy (value unknown) the same as the other level winners.....$ value unknown

So total value = $74,900+ and I only received $5,900 which is less than 8%.

2) The properties: This really bothered me. They never gave me any details about the so called properties which they claimed "held the key" to me getting paid until March 15th when I pressed for some details. At that time, Wade told me he took one property off the market because of the real estate slump and then he finally gave me the address of another property.

I really wanted to believe they were trying to get this done, but their unwillingness to offer any information about the real estate, their unwillingness to back up their "word" by signing a promissory note on a personal level, their unwillingness to "embrace" any of their winners just finally led me to where I am now.

Not to mention......NOT ONCE have either of them said, "I'm sorry" (that I can recall).

 

[Rooster]

Good luck with your lawsuit Fish. I followed the first thread and my gut told me that the new guys weren't any better than the old one and this behavior just proves it. Anyone that gives AFFL a penny knowing their history at this point is just asking for trouble. It's too bad they aren't required to disclose these problems to people who aren't familiar with their past.

 

[Craig_MiamiFL]

To respond to the comment above: I don't think that first sentence is an out at all. The most meaningful is the final one IMO [when one of the owners stated: 'We've paid some of the money. [And didn't elaborate on why only some of it had been paid].

Sounds like Jeff was more than reasonable -- was willing to bend more than I know I would -- willing to accept at a later date with a personal guarantee. LOL they refuse & then have the nerve to say a lawsuit isn't necessary.

You've handled this well Jeff. Nice work being proactive as you've been. The best of luck. Let us know how it turns out.

 

[Kleck]

Hope you nail the ####ers, Buck Naked.

 

[buck naked]

For some strange reason this further inspires me. Thanks Kleck!

 

[SuperJohn96]

Good luck!

 

[jackdubl]

To respond to the comment above: I don't think that first sentence is an out at all. The most meaningful is the final one IMO [when one of the owners stated: 'We've paid some of the money. [And didn't elaborate on why only some of it had been paid].

Sounds like Jeff was more than reasonable -- was willing to bend more than I know I would -- willing to accept at a later date with a personal guarantee. LOL they refuse & then have the nerve to say a lawsuit isn't necessary.

You've handled this well Jeff. Nice work being proactive as you've been. The best of luck. Let us know how it turns out.

Yeah, I love the quote that the lawsuit wasn't necessary because we've already paid him 8.5% of what we owe him. Love that reasoning.And yeah, best proof of the debt is that they've paid part of it. Good for you, Jeff. Please keep us updated. Very interested in this outcome.

 

[cobalt_27]

The winner of the AFFL's Gold Division, Jeff Gill, has not been paid his $60,000.00 Grand Prize, or received his $9,000 Waterford crystal trophy or custom made trophy. By the AFFL's own Rules, these were to be paid by February 8, 2010.

The owners of AFFL rejected our reasonable attempts to resolve their failure to pay Jeff. The truth is, they cannot pay him right now. All we received from them in return was their stated intent to still pay Jeff. Their words mean nothing. We already had a promise that they would pay the cash prizes and awards in their Rules - in fact they "guaranteed" payment.

We were left with no choice but to file this: http://www.snsfe-law.com/docs/complaint041310.pdf

The claims are for violation of the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act, fraud, and breach of contract, against the two owners and their company, Chicago Fantasy Sports, LLC.

No one else should have to go through these situations anymore in the fantasy gaming industry. The AFFL brought this upon themselves, now they can feel the full consequences.

Guys, my name is Jeff Gill and my FF moniker/team name is Fish.

Thanks for the support from everyone. They promised and promised they would pay, so I offered them the choice to pay me later if they would sign a personal guarantee.

They refused, so I guess their "word" isn't worth much if they won't back it up with a signature.

You know more than anything, they just took all the fun out of winning. I don't really play this game for the money, I play for the challenge and the fun. This is supposed to be fun.

For your reading pleasure:

http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2010/04...ll-contest.html

I've never posted here before but I've read many, many pages and consider this a great MB. This subject matter should be prominent for all FF players to see, so that they can make intelligent choices when deciding where and how to invest their FF dollars. I hope that this thread can stay prominent, for the protection of innocent internet surfers who might make the same mistake I did because they were uninformed about the FF landscape.

As an example, I was told by Wade that the AFFL received over 400 new signups in 2008........that was immediately following the 2007 season when Neil Wickham didn't pay anyone to my knowledge. That's sad and it needs to be stopped.

Jeff, I think most of us are very sorry to hear this has happened to you. I certainly wish you nothing but success in your lawsuit.It is worth noting once again that we all did you a huge disservice by banishing the old AFFL threads to a subforum that few ever saw. I wonder if you, or anyone else, would have given pause to joining AFFL had you read any of those posts (given that you say you have been a frequent visitor). Joe now seems to have distanced himself from the AFFL group (and suggested that he never was in partnership with them). I accept on face value his word here. But, he went to great lengths/effort to cleanse any negative discussion about AFFL, which clearly had Shark Pool relevance (and certainly not a Looking For Leagues topic, once it turned to guys not getting their money). In the context of this development, it seems very clear that suppressing this timely/relevant topic was a very poor decision.

 

[FantasyTrader]

We should come up with a list of all the similar delinquent contests run in the last few years. There's been more than half a dozen, if I recall correctly. One of them owed me $1000.

The newly formed Fantasy Players Assoc will be keeping tabs on all fantasy contests, If and how quickly they pay and will be an open forum for players to discuss any red flags that they may notice.Scott Adkins aka Team Legacy is spearheading the launch.

Check out http://www.fantasyplayersassociation.com/

LOVE THIS! It's high time the fantasy sports world had a watchdog. The dollars in play are too big to have the fantasy sports market operating like the Wild Wild West anymore.

 

[Fish]

AFFL MB is down......what a surprise :(

 

[buck naked]

edit

 

[Mr. Bojangles]

Bump. Keep up the fight guys and let's spread the word about this corruption as we are getting deeper into signup time for leagues.

 

[moderated]

Bump. Keep up the fight guys and let's spread the word about this corruption as we are getting deeper into signup time for leagues.

Are they seriously gonna try to have new leagues this year after stiffing everyone?If so these guys are complete trash and belong in prison.

 

[Mr. Bojangles]

Bump. Keep up the fight guys and let's spread the word about this corruption as we are getting deeper into signup time for leagues.

Are they seriously gonna try to have new leagues this year after stiffing everyone?If so these guys are complete trash and belong in prison.

Doubt they will specifically, although believe or not, there are people on the message board over there asking about when signups begin. But this should be a first page topic to remind everyone to do their due diligence when signing up for a high stakes league.

 

[Brothers Mayhem]

I agree that more exposure is needed to warn players of shady FF sites and Leagues. I just started reading this post this morning and can't tell you how lucky I feel right now.

I have been a fantasy football player for a few years now. When I 1st decided to join an online money league I had narrowed down my choices to either AFFL, FantasyJungle and RTSports. I ended up choosing RTS. The shadiness of the other two sites never factored in my decision. Hell, I didn't even think to consider such a thing. It was just shear luck that I did't choose one of the others and could possibly have been a victim myself.

If I am understanding what I have been reading - there where people and organizations who knew that 2 of my 3 choices were crooked. If that is true - don't we owe it to each other, as fellow competitors and fans of the hobby, to get this info out there? And I don't mean buried in some forum somewhere. If you have the web presence or media power - shine a light on this subject & get the knowledge out to the players.

 

[trader jake]

Honda?

These guys are the suck.

 

[Bri]

Someone that follows through...kudos 'bucknaked'. 99 perc would just threaten a lawsuit.

 

[Bri]

Chicago fantasy sports?

What is the name of the company the tribune owns? I could google but its prob worth mentioning here.

 

[Novice2]

Bump. Keep up the fight guys and let's spread the word about this corruption as we are getting deeper into signup time for leagues.

Are they seriously gonna try to have new leagues this year after stiffing everyone?If so these guys are complete trash and belong in prison.

They did it last year so why not do it again? There are sites out there that will take there ad money to sucker in new people.

 

[buck naked]

Someone that follows through...kudos 'bucknaked'. 99 perc would just threaten a lawsuit.

 

[purestrength]

I just checked out the AFFL website, but it still says it's accepting 2009 entries. So I don't think they're trying to find new victims.

Best wishes, buck naked.

 

[Bri]

Someone that follows through...kudos 'bucknaked'. 99 perc would just threaten a lawsuit.

Thanks, Bri. I have not updated this thread since filing the lawsuit for my client because the legal process starts slow with having to serve the defendant with the lawsuit. The 3 defendants filed appearances on nearly the last day they were allowed to, but have not filed an Answer to the Complaint. I'm not really surprised...what are they going to do, deny their wrongdoing? I have a Motion pending to enter default against them and ask for a date to prove up damages. Unfortunately, I cannot get a date from the Judge earlier than July 26 to enter the default.

That's them testing if you'll follow through in legal circles isn't it? Lil stalling too?

 

[griff321]

Ugh! I'm trying to find new leagues this year but I can't say it's been an enjoyable process. It seems like you either have to accept a very large chunk of the prize pool will be taken out for anywhere from nonexistent to mediocre service or you have to accept the risk that you may never see a dime of your winnings because it's almost too good to be true.

 

[doorman]

I too was a victim of the AFFL as I had $5700 in winnings of which I recieved $1425. I have written the rest off as a loss but would like to know how this case turns out and also if any criminal charges are brought against the owners as it would seem to be more then just people making bad business decisions.