On Friday, the feds indicted the founders the three largest online poker companies in the U.S. (PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker) and seized their websites in a major crackdown on internet gambling.
If you visit any of the three sites — pokerstars.com, fulltiltpoker.com or absolutepoker.com, you’ll be greated with a warning from the FBI letting you know the domains have been seized and that gambling is illegal.
The indictment charges eleven defendants with bank fraud, money laundering, and illegal gambling offenses. The executives from Isle of Man-based Pokerstars, Ireland-based Full Tilt, and Costa Rica-based Absolute Poker were among those indicted. In addition to the criminal charges, the feds also filed a civil suit seeking $3 billion in damages.
“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 for the Southern District of New York said in a statement. “Foreign firms that choose to operate in the United States are not free to flout the laws they don’t like simply because they can’t bear to be parted from their profits.”
If you have money tied up with one of these websites, you have no access to cash out right now and who knows when you will.
Post from: EveryJoe
The indictment charges eleven defendants with bank fraud, money laundering, and illegal gambling offenses. The executives from Isle of Man-based Pokerstars, Ireland-based Full Tilt, and Costa Rica-based Absolute Poker were among those indicted. In addition to the criminal charges, the feds also filed a civil suit seeking $3 billion in damages.
“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 for the Southern District of New York said in a statement. “Foreign firms that choose to operate in the United States are not free to flout the laws they don’t like simply because they can’t bear to be parted from their profits.”
If you have money tied up with one of these websites, you have no access to cash out right now and who knows when you will.
Post from: EveryJoe