Erick Lindgren Sued for $2.5 Million by PokerStars

Erick Lindgren, two-time WSOP bracelet winner and admitted gambling addict, has been sued by PokerStars for roughly $2.5 milllion for loans received from Full Tilt dating back to the days surrounding Black Friday.

A former Full Tilt pro with shares in the company, Lindgren is said to have received an erroneous $2 million loan from Full Tilt board member Chris Ferguson in April of 2011 shortly after receiving $2 million a first time as payment related to his pro sponsorship/ownership status, Courthouse News reported.

It apparently was a mistake made by Ferguson, who sent the first $2 million on Full Tilt via player transfer, and the second $2 million by bank wire. Those transactions occurred within a few days of Black Friday, both before and after, and give a rather astonishing glimpse at the mismanagement at Full Tilt. Perhaps more astonishing to some was that Lindgren kept the extra $2 million, considering it a loan.

Lindgren apparently never repaid the loan, along with another $531,807 received prior to the $2 million forwarded by Ferguson. PokerStars assumed the debt after Rational purchased Full Tilt in 2012 and is now looking to collect after filing a lawsuit in federal court on January 30.

Lindgren's financial woes have been common knowledge for a number of years. Too common, perhaps, to a number of players who claim that the pro failed to honor his debts. Those debts piled up because of a gambling habit away from the poker tables that forced Lindgren to enter rehab in order to "remove that degenerate gene."

Along with a two-week rehab stay in Morningside Recovery, Lindgren also filed for bankruptcy in 2012. The suit by PokerStars claims the bankruptcy proceedings have concluded with the debt to Rational still intact and recoverable.

Lindgren has earned over $10 million in live tournament action over the course of his career that began in 2000. The poker world first took notice in 2002 when he beat a field of 183 to earn more than $228,000 at the $3,100 buy-in Main Event of the Bellagio Five Diamond Poker Classic.

WPT championships followed in both of the next two years that added a collective $1.5 million to Lindgren's bankroll, The Hendon Mob reported. His first WSOP title was won in 2008 and Lindgren added another in 2013.

Lindgren cashed four times at last year's WSOP, the largest for $129,192 after finishing 5th in a $10,000 6-handed NLHE event. He is 20th on poker's all-time money list and 6th on Nevada's all-time list.

The 38-year-old Lindgren acknowledged the debt to PokerStars in the Bluff interview. He indicated at the time a willingness to pay back that outstanding loan and others. But apparently, recent attempts by PokerStars to collect the $2.5 million have gone unanswered, hence the filing of the lawsuit.