.

Surprised they didn't throw terrorism in there:



"In a letter dated Friday and faxed to Alliance Bank of Arizona, the prosecutor said that accounts held by payment processor Allied Systems Inc. are subject to seizure and forfeiture "because they constitute property involved in money laundering transactions and illegal gambling offenses." The letter was signed by Arlo Devlin-Brown, the assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.

In another letter faxed the same day, Devlin-Brown asks that the bank treat the funds "as legally seized" by the FBI, saying that the government has probable cause that the gambling payments of U.S. residents had been directed to offshore illegal Internet gambling businesses."

They just had 30 million dollars frozen at the whim of a judge. What if he decides to do this a few more times? How many tens of millions do you think it will take before PS and FTP decide its too expensive to stay in the US?

Read what he wrote, dude. He makes it sound like online poker will be totally LEGAL for everyone in 6 months.

its very interesting cause now its the wire act we have to elude, and this particular action had nothing to do with UIGEA. According to those that know we have legal precedent which is nice, but also pretty dangerous if we lose i guess

Well, I can tell you one thing--we American players won't be getting that UK May bonus offer any time soon!

He said "anyone" including non US. I thought he meant there was a more serious threat to the whole site for their shenanighans allowing US to play there.

Hence, you have to litigate. Its not the first time processing money has been seized, and it won't be the last.

He said there is a small chance...in other words, very unlikely that we will even be able to play at Stars in the next 6 months...so, not sure what you are reading.

Heh, I took it as the complete opposite, as in gg Stars.

Yeah, and that will be a fast process. What happens if they decide to freeze another 100 million? You think Stars and FTP are just going to keep taking the hits?

There's a number of steps they can take. Sure, one outcome is that processing becomes so difficult they leave the US. Its far from a forgone conclusion.

Yes...processing becoming difficult would suck, but I'd think having hundreds of millions of funds frozen would be a bit of a pain in the ass as well...one that might be too expensive to mess with.

Anyone think they will move down to the people that were going to receive the money?

You think they are just going to attack the sites/processors and not the players?

Yes this is pretty much the one time in the US where something can be set in stone rather quickly and without legislation... obviously a SCOTUS ruling would be the be all end all... who knows given the magnitude of the seizure and the heavy hittedness of the players involved it could go that far...

if anyone was reffering to my post as saying that online poker will be completely legal in 6 mo.s that was not at all what i said, not sure you are talking about my post tho.

Sure, but that hasn't happened yet. Its far from a foregone conclusion that the Government can keep the money already seized. There are steps the site can take (although they arent costless in terms of ease of withdrawing/depositing).

Its bad news, but its not an automatic death blow to the business model.

No, has anyone that used Neteller been arrested?

Right...it isn't a definite death blow...just a possible one.

I would say that if litigation fails/ another processor is seized there isn't an ice cubes chance in hell of stars/tilt staying in the states for long...

Given that this is a semi-private group of people that I am saying this too... Youd have to be insane not to try to get most of your money out now... as a precaution of course.. everyone remembers NT

This is probably a reason why I never think money in the U.S. banks account is safe. For whatever ****ty reasons, they could just freeze your whole life assets, and savings, this is just scary.

Here's the problem with that: these sites act outside of US law. They thumb their noses at it. Do you really want a judge or judges to be deciding this issue? Have you ever been in a federal court? This issue could drag on for years. This isn't going to be something they iron out in a matter of a few days or even a few weeks. If these sites are going to fight this, they are in for a long haul.

If these monies aren't released and the poker sites somehow make good on the payouts, I'll be surprised, especially to the tune of 30 mil.

What are you basing this on? What do you think these sites make a week? How much of their worth do you honestly think they are keeping in the United States?

This is why you aren't getting apologies, because you are still talking out of your ass.

Is it possible to set up a bank account in Canada and still play from the US? I have heard about a player or two doing this.

Hey, I am willing to agree with you. If 30 mil collectively is nothing to these guys, then no problem, brah!

Its probably somewhere between 1 to 2 weeks of profits for the sites. Its not nothing, but do you think losing two weeks profits is going to make them suddenly insolvent?

Obviously you cant lose 2 weeks of profits too many times, and the precedent is bad, but saying they won't pay out because of it is completely asinine.