Is Media Corp. using a Maltese paper company to void paying its Purple Lounge players?
News on 17 Jul 2012
News on 17 Jul 2012
Liquidators confirm that Purple Lounge Malta owes the players….but that entity has no real substance
With plans for Purple Lounge poker players to combine in a legal action apparently forging ahead on the twoplustwo message board, the management at Media Corp could find their liquidation of Purple Lounge UK challenged as unpaid players seek redress.
Players approaching the liquidators appointed by the company, Baker Tilly, to wind up the affairs of Purple Lounge UK were told earlier this month that they were not on the list of creditors supplied to Baker Tilly by Media Corp.
On enquiring why, players were advised that as far as Media Corp is concerned, the Purple Lounge Malta company was responsible for player funds, although that, too, is apparently to be wound up.
However, unpaid players who claim they are legitimate creditors point out that isolating Purple Lounge Malta is a questionable tactic, asserting that the company is a mere paper shell designed to hold the Malta licence; that its sole locally based director resigned some weeks ago; that management decisions came from Media Corp; and that it was not an operational entity in that financial transactions with players were carried out through Purple Lounge UK.
Clearly there is little hope of retrieving anything from what remains of the Maltese company, and players are therefore focused on Purple Lounge UK and Media Corp.
The issue now appears to be whether players can prove that their Purple Lounge financial transactions went through Purple Lounge UK, which possibly gives them a claim to be listed as creditors.
But short of judicial injunctions, they will have to move fast as Media Corp pushes ahead with its Purple Lounge UK liquidation plans.
One player pressing a claim this week noted: “It seems all the money management, casino/poker operation, etc was done by the UK company, with the Maltese company being nothing more than a letterbox company designed to hold the license.
“If players money was never sent to the Maltese company, and stayed wholly within the UK company, how can the Maltese company be the debtor to anyone?”
