Mike Postle stands accused of cheating approximately $250,000 from players during streams of Stones Live at Stones Gambling Hall in Citrus Heights during 2018 and 2019. Since the accusations became public, 88 individuals have joined in a $33 million lawsuit against him, Stones Gambling Hall, former Tournament Director Justin Kuraitis and several John and Jane Does.
Maurice VerStandig, the attorney representing the plaintiffs, recently said on the podcast “The Rake” that Postle may have tried to avoid being served with legal notice of the suit.
VerStandig handed off the summons/complaint to a process server who found Postle’s address and made several attempts to serve the documents, but no one ever responded at the front door. While in the Sacramento area to see his clients, VerStanding decided to attempt doing so himself.
“I went to the house, saw a car in the driveway. I knocked on the door, rang the doorbell, pretty obnoxiously too,” VerStandig said on “The Rake.” After about eight minutes in front of the house, and hearing noise from inside, he went across the street to his car to wait while having a better view.
While watching, he believed he saw Postle upstairs, which meant he was purposely ignoring the front door. “I went back and did a melodic riff on the doorbell,” VerStandig added. After ringing and knocking some more, he verbally announced his presence, left the documents by the door, and filed an affidavit in court as to what he had done. As long as the court agrees that this constitutes serving the documents, the lawsuit can proceed.
The trouble began for Postle and Stones last September when former Stones Live commentator Veronica Brill tweeted that cheating may have been occurring during the streams. Soon, Postle was identified as the possible perpetrator when many poker experts reviewed past streams on the internet. The lawsuit was filed Oct. 8.
VerStandig is under the impression that Postle is without representation at present. It was reported originally that criminal defense attorney William Portanova was his lawyer, but during the attempts to serve papers VerStandig said that he was informed Portanova was only his attorney for possible criminal liability.
“Now that he has been served, he is on the clock. So, we will find this out in the next month or two,” said VerStandig.
