AFFL - Lawsuit Filed (1 Viewer)

[CletiusMaximus]

Good luck Buck Naked. I hate Cook county courts as a plaintiff; it is the most frustrating experience I have had in terms of allowing and even facilitating delay by defendants.

 

[DropKick]

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.

Credits from 2007? Doesn't this suggest that Jeff already knew the AFFL had a history of non-payment? I feel bad for him - I really do... but I play the game for fun, bragging rights and maybe a little bit of money. I'd have serious reservations about sending money to someone I didn't know.

 

[buck naked]

edit

 

[jjammer]

Thanks for the update

Hope this works out for those of us who are owed prize money

 

[John 14:6]

The lawyer told me that his clients did not intend to defraud anybody.

Oh, as long as they didn't INTEND to defraud them, then it's ok Go get 'em, bn!

 

[BassNBrew]

Today, I appeared in Court for the first time on this case. Wade, Bob & CFS hired a lawyer late last week to represent them, and they intend to try and dismiss the fraud claims against them.

The lawyer told me that his clients did not intend to defraud anybody.

Consider that statement with the following. On June 26, 2009, Wade Golab and Bob Smolarczyk appeared on Red v. Blue to discuss the AFFL and their intentions in running leagues last year. Thanks to Scott Atkins for forwarding this recording to me.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/redvsblue/200...ts-affl-show-37

Here are some direct quotes from Bob and Wade, the men who did not intend to defraud anybody, to the fantasy football consuming public on that day:

Wade - Regarding guarantees they can make that the $ will be safe - "The best guarantee we can give is that we are willing to put the money in that is necessary to get the people paid that every year the contest goes".

Wade - regarding the credits given to people and their knowingly having to put their own personal funds into the AFFL - "We are willing to do the same thing this year, and every year, until this becomes a contest that is gonna fund itself", and "I think that we are going to be close based on signups coming back".

Wade - regarding their willingness to make the AFFL work, or cancel it if it doesn't - "We are willing to put more money into this to get everyone paid out every year that the contest goes. If it ever looks like that is something we are not gonna be willing to do, we will just not run the contest that year. If it gets too daunting, and costing the two of us too much money, then we will just cut our losses. Because we do not want to be in that situation (Neil Wickham's) and go through something like that again".

Wade - "There is no downside. It's just putting all that money in, you know, months ahead of time."

Bob - We are here for the guys that play with us...We're just trying to return the favor and support everyone out there and take care of them."

Bob - "The AFFL name will be cleared in another year or so after payouts again" and "I'm not in it to screw anyone out of money".

and one of my favorites:

Bob - "I'm a big karma guy". (So, I guess Bob understands why this lawsuit is happening to him right now).

God I hope you get these crooks. Hopefully the wardens in the Cook County prison had teams in the AFFL. Would love to hear the warden's lwayers say, "We didn't intend for Wade and Bob to be become Bubba's boyfriend."

 

[Sudoku_in_the_Bathtub]

Update?

 

[Team Legacy]

From the information I had gathered, I believe some form of agreement has been reached. The AFFL fiasco is a black eye on the industry and I along with the 12 board members at the FPA want to help make sure this doesn't happen to anyone else due to lack of information. Our new site will be a place to formally file any disputes, read contest reviews and get to know some of the more visible players in the hobby. The site should be ready for launch in the next 30 days. In the meantime feel free to visit our pre-beta blog.

 

[cobalt_27]

One of the lessons in all of this is to understand what a small community this is. Particularly among those who own/operate fantasy-related products/services, it's a tight knit group, many of whom describe each other as "good guys" and frown upon anyone saying anything derisive or negative about them. Whether these feelings are genuine or not, it's important to remember that the players are constantly contracting with each other for advertising space and ultimately serving each other's bottom lines. They protect one-another.

While myself and others were pleading with Joe, and seething at the fact that he buried the AFFL v1.0 story to the LFL forum a year or so ago, I am pleased that he has allowed AFFL v2.0 to play itself out this time around in the FFA. I have no doubt that keeping this public saved a lot of people the misfortune of paying into a bunch of crooks this second go-around.

 

[Maroney=Speed]

One of the lessons in all of this is to understand what a small community this is. Particularly among those who own/operate fantasy-related products/services, it's a tight knit group, many of whom describe each other as "good guys" and frown upon anyone saying anything derisive or negative about them. Whether these feelings are genuine or not, it's important to remember that the players are constantly contracting with each other for advertising space and ultimately serving each other's bottom lines. They protect one-another. While myself and others were pleading with Joe, and seething at the fact that he buried the AFFL v1.0 story to the LFL forum a year or so ago, I am pleased that he has allowed AFFL v2.0 to play itself out this time around in the FFA. I have no doubt that keeping this public saved a lot of people the misfortune of paying into a bunch of crooks this second go-around.

Fact is like I said AFFL paid it's 2009 winner in FULL. I received a PM from BOB himself telling me so. But no one wanted to beleive me. Now it looks like Joe is or has buried the WCOFF mess that I started Two yep 2 different Topic's on the matter.So maybe someone else should start up a Topic: 'WCOFF hasn't paid there 2010 Football Contest winners'.

 

[ConnSKINS26]

Fact is like I said AFFL paid it's 2009 winner in FULL. I received a PM from BOB himself telling me so. But no one wanted to beleive me. Now it looks like Joe is or has buried the WCOFF mess that I started Two yep 2 different Topic's on the matter.So maybe someone else should start up a Topic: 'WCOFF hasn't paid there 2010 Football Contest winners'.

Maybe you should leave it alone. Every time you enter one of these threads, the topic changes to what contest you're affiliated with, and what your ulterior motives are. Maybe that should be a hint.

 

[Neil Beaufort Zod]

Fact is like I said AFFL paid it's 2009 winner in FULL. I received a PM from BOB himself telling me so. But no one wanted to beleive me. Now it looks like Joe is or has buried the WCOFF mess that I started Two yep 2 different Topic's on the matter.So maybe someone else should start up a Topic: 'WCOFF hasn't paid there 2010 Football Contest winners'.

Maybe you should leave it alone. Every time you enter one of these threads, the topic changes to what contest you're affiliated with, and what you're ulterior motives are. Maybe that should be a hint.

 

[fatness]

Fact is like I said AFFL paid it's 2009 winner in FULL. I received a PM from BOB himself telling me so. But no one wanted to beleive me.

I don't.

 

[atl3695]

One of the lessons in all of this is to understand what a small community this is. Particularly among those who own/operate fantasy-related products/services, it's a tight knit group, many of whom describe each other as "good guys" and frown upon anyone saying anything derisive or negative about them. Whether these feelings are genuine or not, it's important to remember that the players are constantly contracting with each other for advertising space and ultimately serving each other's bottom lines. They protect one-another. While myself and others were pleading with Joe, and seething at the fact that he buried the AFFL v1.0 story to the LFL forum a year or so ago, I am pleased that he has allowed AFFL v2.0 to play itself out this time around in the FFA. I have no doubt that keeping this public saved a lot of people the misfortune of paying into a bunch of crooks this second go-around.

Fact is like I said AFFL paid it's 2009 winner in FULL. I received a PM from BOB himself telling me so. But no one wanted to beleive me. Now it looks like Joe is or has buried the WCOFF mess that I started Two yep 2 different Topic's on the matter.So maybe someone else should start up a Topic: 'WCOFF hasn't paid there 2010 Football Contest winners'.

Not sure if you were talking about the GRAND PRIZE winner of 2009 only when you said 2009 winners had been paid. I had a check owed from me from an individual league prize.I received an email last week asking me to confirm my mailing address and a check would be sent out immediately. I replied, but needless to say I wasnt holding my breath. Surprise! Surprise! Went to my mailbox this week and the check was there. Went to the bank today and cashed it with no issues. So for all other 2009 winners, dont give up hope yet. AFFL may be paying for a couple of your entries this year (on another site of course!) The check included this note saying that they had promised all along 2009 winners will be paid and are now making good on that promise. They apologized for the wait and included a friendly reminder that AFFL is running 2011 games also!

 

[Sudoku_in_the_Bathtub]

included a friendly reminder that AFFL is running 2011 games also!

Really? REALLY?? ...REALLY?

 

[purestrength]

Just saw this thread. Is the AFFL really running leagues this year?

 

[BassNBrew]

 

[Craig_MiamiFL]

Update?

 

[Ministry of Pain]

Fact is like I said AFFL paid it's 2009 winner in FULL. I received a PM from BOB himself telling me so. But no one wanted to beleive me. Now it looks like Joe is or has buried the WCOFF mess that I started Two yep 2 different Topic's on the matter.So maybe someone else should start up a Topic: 'WCOFF hasn't paid there 2010 Football Contest winners'.

Maybe you should leave it alone. Every time you enter one of these threads, the topic changes to what contest you're affiliated with, and what you're ulterior motives are. Maybe that should be a hint.

Not that I mind since he is one of the very very few posters I have on ignore but Maroney-Speed, haven't seen much of him in a long while, possibly being part of a major rip off scandal would not surprise me. It could also just be some teenager that likes to create problems.

 

[ImTheScientist]

Fact is like I said AFFL paid it's 2009 winner in FULL. I received a PM from BOB himself telling me so. But no one wanted to beleive me. Now it looks like Joe is or has buried the WCOFF mess that I started Two yep 2 different Topic's on the matter.So maybe someone else should start up a Topic: 'WCOFF hasn't paid there 2010 Football Contest winners'.

Maybe you should leave it alone. Every time you enter one of these threads, the topic changes to what contest you're affiliated with, and what you're ulterior motives are. Maybe that should be a hint.

Not that I mind since he is one of the very very few posters I have on ignore but Maroney-Speed, haven't seen much of him in a long while, possibly being part of a major rip off scandal would not surprise me. It could also just be some teenager that likes to create problems.

Maybe because Maroney =/= Speed and he just figured it out after awhile.