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Three largest online poker sites indicted and shut down by FBI
stevek
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Three largest online poker sites indicted and shut down by FBI
April 15, 2011 | 12:32 pm The founders of the three largest online poker sites were indicted by the FBI on Friday in what could serve as a death blow to the thriving industry.
Eleven executives at PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker were charged with bank fraud and money laundering in an indictment unsealed in a Manhattan court. Two of the executives were arrested on Friday morning in Utah and Nevada. Federal agents are searching for the others.
Prosecutors are seeking to immediately shut down the sites and to eventually send the executives to jail and to recover $3 billion from the companies. By Friday afternoon Full Tilt Poker’s site displayed a message explaining that “this domain name has been seized by the F.B.I. pursuant to an Arrest Warrant.”
The online gambling industry has taken off over the last decade, drawing an estimated 15 million Americans to bet online.
In 2006 Congress passed a law prohibiting online gambling. Most of the leading sites found ways to work around the law using foreign banks, but prosecutors allege that in doing so they broke the law.
“These defendants concocted an elaborate criminal fraud scheme, alternately tricking some U.S. banks and effectively bribing others to assure the continued flow of billions in illegal gambling profits,” Preet Bharara, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan, said in a statement.
Poker fans took to Twitter in droves, worried about the money in their online gaming accounts, fretting that online poker's days were at an end.
"Well the good news is I think I only had about $300 left on the online poker sites overall," tweeted Jimi Schindler of Madison, Wis. "Maybe I'll see that money?!!?"
-- Nathaniel Popper
April 15, 2011 | 12:32 pm The founders of the three largest online poker sites were indicted by the FBI on Friday in what could serve as a death blow to the thriving industry.
Eleven executives at PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker were charged with bank fraud and money laundering in an indictment unsealed in a Manhattan court. Two of the executives were arrested on Friday morning in Utah and Nevada. Federal agents are searching for the others.
Prosecutors are seeking to immediately shut down the sites and to eventually send the executives to jail and to recover $3 billion from the companies. By Friday afternoon Full Tilt Poker’s site displayed a message explaining that “this domain name has been seized by the F.B.I. pursuant to an Arrest Warrant.”
The online gambling industry has taken off over the last decade, drawing an estimated 15 million Americans to bet online.
In 2006 Congress passed a law prohibiting online gambling. Most of the leading sites found ways to work around the law using foreign banks, but prosecutors allege that in doing so they broke the law.
“These defendants concocted an elaborate criminal fraud scheme, alternately tricking some U.S. banks and effectively bribing others to assure the continued flow of billions in illegal gambling profits,” Preet Bharara, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan, said in a statement.
Poker fans took to Twitter in droves, worried about the money in their online gaming accounts, fretting that online poker's days were at an end.
"Well the good news is I think I only had about $300 left on the online poker sites overall," tweeted Jimi Schindler of Madison, Wis. "Maybe I'll see that money?!!?"
-- Nathaniel Popper
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Comments
Anyone else running betting sites=== evil.
The blind may wonder , but even a moran with one eye can see what is easily seen.
Baaaahhhh go the sheeple .----- Sonny
When it comes to gambling, the government does not believe in free enterprise.
Been playing on Full-tilt off and on all day with no problem,never saw that message??HuH.....
Needs'
1972 Football-9's high#'s
1965 Football-8's
1958 Topps FB-7-8
Ah well... that sucks.
ALWAYS Looking for Chris Sabo cards!
business as usual for customers.
<< <i>poker stars now has .eu domain name
business as usual for customers. >>
Not if you live in the United States:
“As you may have heard, we have had to suspend real money poker services to players based in the U.S. due to recent legal developments there,” a statement from PokerStars read.
FT made a similar statement.
<< <i>executives to jail and to recover $3 billion from the companies. By Friday afternoon Full Tilt Poker’s site displayed a message explaining that “this domain name has been seized by the F.B.I. pursuant to an Arrest Warrant.”
Been playing on Full-tilt off and on all day with no problem,never saw that message??HuH..... >>
Obviously you're missing the difference between playing using their software and actually accessing their web site. If you go to www.fulltiltpoker.com, you will see the described message. I know, I just did it myself.
Tabe
http://www.unisquare.com/store/brick/
Ralph
Shut out now,wonder what will happen to our $$,they have always{full-tilt] been sooooo slow to cash
you out,yet making a deposit is instant! I'm sure somebodys workin on a new system so u.s. players will
be playing tonight.
Needs'
1972 Football-9's high#'s
1965 Football-8's
1958 Topps FB-7-8
If our government saw fit to shutdown these online poker sites,
why have they waited all these years to do it?
Our federal government law enforcement seems to find
stupid ways to enforce the law: AsseBackwards.
I'll miss Poker Stars!
They sent me to play in China
and two world series of poker main events.
Haven't played for money online in a few years,
...and glad I'm not caught-up in this mess!
By allowing hundreds of thousands of AMERICANS
to play on these sites over the past few years,
without interruption, our law enforcement may have dropped the ball
and these sites with their big dollars, may have a valid case in the US Courts.
If the US Government wanted to stop online poker,
what were they waiting for these past years?
rd
Quicksilver Messenger Service - Smokestack Lightning (Live) 1968
Quicksilver Messenger Service - The Hat (Live) 1971
why have they waited all these years to do it?
Our federal government law enforcement seems to find
stupid ways to enforce the law: AsseBackwards.
I'll miss Poker Stars!
They sent me to play in China
and two world series of poker main events.
Haven't played for money online in a few years,
...and glad I'm not caught-up in this mess!
By allowing hundreds of thousands of AMERICANS
to play on these sites over the past few years,
without interruption, our law enforcement may have dropped the ball
and these sites with their big dollars, may have a valid case in the US Courts.
If the US Government wanted to stop online poker,
what were they waiting for these past years?
rd >>>>>
I read the indictment - seems to me that the Feds have a lock tight case.
The time frame involved is how the Feds operate. They often slowly and methodically put together a case. Look how long it took to put together cases against organized crime families...often many years.
In any event, you're blaming the wrong people...law enforcement is only doing their job...the Democrats had full control of the Presidency, House and Senate for two years, and legalizing online poker could have sailed through. Your side had the nuts for two years, including a president who likes to play poker, but you didn't go all-in when you had the chance.
You're also barking up the wrong tree. I can't think of too many people in the US who are against allowing others to play poker. Almost nobody is against playing poker including me. It's the exploitation and social costs they are against...and until your PPA can convince the public and lawmakers that underage children won't have access to online poker, that young people won't forgo their work and studies to pursue online poker, that gambling addiction rates won't skyrocket, and that taxes won't rise to pay for all the social costs involved with increased gambling addiction...then you're gonna have a tough time now getting it legalized nationally.
<< <i>One reason why I never trusted the pay sites. I also think there are people out there who have the means to see your cards on thier computer. The sites say that they look for these and shut that person but all it takes is one game for that person to take my money. That is why i playon the free sites on the computer and play in a poker league every monday with 8 people in person. >>
You are right to at least be suspicious - UltimateBet was doing this themselves. The site themselves were cheating people and essentially stole millions of dollars.
Somehow, though, nobody went to jail for that...
Tabe
This is known as “bad luck.”
<< <i>I was reading an article today about how the players that have had they're accounts/cash frozen by the government do not necessarily have to worry about prosecution by the Feds for illegal gambling (Good News). The Feds were only interested in prosecuting the executives running the off shore sites. Bad News: However, that doesn't mean that the IRS won't take a gander at the account names/balances/activity and try to match up tax returns to those accounts. >>
Whenever the mob gets busted for illegal gambling...seems to happen almost every year in Philly and/or the NY/NJ area, they never bother prosecuting the gamblers, only the gambling operators. As you mention, I expect them to only go after the executives, and the others involved in the alleged criminal activity as noted on the indictment.
This is just a total guess if they decide to do the other thing you mentioned with the tax returns. I don't think they are going to even contemplate doing the entire customer list. However, if they gain access to that information, they may look at some theshold figure, of say tournament winners of 10K or more, to see if they declared that income.
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APRIL 20, 2011, 1:41 P.M. ET.UPDATE:
PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker Allowed Domain Name Use For Fund Withdrawal
DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
Federal prosecutors have agreed to let PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker, two of the three online gambling companies targeted in a federal crackdown, to use their domain names to facilitate U.S. players' withdrawal of funds in accounts.
Eleven people, including the founders of PokerStars, Full Tilt and Absolute Poker, were charged Friday with bank fraud, money laundering and online gambling offenses, in the U.S.'s latest effort to crack down on online gambling.
Authorities filed restraining orders against 76 bank accounts allegedly associated with the poker companies as part of a separate civil forfeiture action. They are seeking at least $3 billion in civil money-laundering penalties and forfeiture.
Prosecutors seized five Internet domain names used by the companies last week: pokerstars.com, fulltiltpoker.com, absolutepoker.com, ultimatebet.com and ub.com. As of late Wednesday morning, all the websites featured a warning that the "domain name has been seized by the F.B.I," as well as citations of federal gambling and money-laundering laws.
But the U.S. Attorney's office of the Southern District of New York said in a statement Wednesday its agreements allow for the pokerstars.com and fulltiltpoker.com domain names to be used to help U.S. players withdraw funds. The arrangements prohibit the deposit of funds by U.S. players and require the appointment of an independent monitor to verify the companies' compliance.
The government said Absolute Poker has the option to enter the same agreement.
"Returning U.S. players' funds is a top priority for PokerStars and the company can now start the process," PokerStars said in a statement. It said all players' deposits are "completely safe," as licensing laws in the Isle of Man, where it is based, require funds to be held in accounts that are segregated from the company's assets.
PokerStars said it "categorically denies" the Justice Department's allegations and "is taking all steps necessary to robustly defend itself, and the two named individuals."
Barry Boss, counsel for Full Tilt poker, declined to comment. Contact information for Absolute Poker couldn't immediately be located Wednesday.
-By Matt Jarzemsky, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2240; matthew.jarzemsky@dowjones.com
While the rest of the world will continue to enjoy online poker from the big poker sites, back here in the good olde USA, our government wants meddle with about 20 million Americans who have enjoyed playing online poker over the past decade.
Government crackdown on criminal activities and building a case? My @rsssse! Just Uncle Sam dictating their power to govern over the people with silly rules and bad law enforcement.
I hope the multi-million dollar legal teams of PS & Full Tilt, blows this case right out of the water and prevails.
rd
Quicksilver Messenger Service - Smokestack Lightning (Live) 1968
Quicksilver Messenger Service - The Hat (Live) 1971
<< <i>While the rest of the world will continue to enjoy online poker from the big poker sites, back here in the good olde USA, our government wants meddle with about 20 million Americans who have enjoyed playing online poker over the past decade.
Government crackdown on criminal activities and building a case? My @rsssse! Just Uncle Sam dictating their power to govern over the people with silly rules and bad law enforcement.
I hope the multi-million dollar legal teams of PS & Full Tilt, blows this case right out of the water and prevails.
rd >>
That's your opinion about how many enjoyed it. I see quite a number of posts around the internet from those who have been harmed and destroyed by it, and I imagine you likely know that...and I don't wish to discuss the addictive nature of online poker here...it is what it is.
That being said, it would be interesting to take a random sampling of that so-called "20 million" and ask them how much they enjoyed spending countless hours on the computer while losing too much of their hard earned money. I would have to imagine the percentage of those stating they "enjoyed it" would be extremely low indeed - that's my opinion.
All that being said, I'm not for a nanny state, and if online poker gets legalized with the stipulations I mentioned before, then I don't think too many people would object to it. After all, how many people die from smoking each year...it's a sad very high number indeed, and very few are calling for a total ban on tobacco. But tobacco has been carefully monitored not to allow kids to smoke, and to have sufficient public warnings so that the public through awareness can make an informed choice. Frankly, I don't see the online poker industry making even close to adequate warnings about the addictive nature of their game. I may have missed it, but I've never seen any sort of addiction warning from PS or FT on any of their TV ads about how many get addicted and harmed by their product...and in my view being disingenuous like that gets people ticked off, especially with a product which is geared towards enticing young people to play...all in the same manner that people got ticked off at the tobacco industry and then came down hard on them.
Your side should take a step back, be forthright about your product, as to the very possible harmful effects of it so that people can have an informed choice, and perhaps those out there against it would have a more open minded view about it. But you don't want to do that do you?...because those naive and ignorant about the game are the "fish" right?...and you want to take their money, no matter what happens to them, right? Well, right now you're not taking anything...and your side needs to smarten up or it will stay that way.