Reuters: Full Tilt Poker, Pokerstars and Absolute Poker charged with illegal gambling - Page 8 - Poker News

Manhattan U.S. Attorney PREET BHARARA said: "As
charged, 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. Moreover, as we allege, in their zeal
to circumvent the gambling laws, the defendants also engaged in
massive money laundering and bank fraud. 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."

Quote:

FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge JANICE K. FEDARCYK
said: "These defendants, knowing full well that their business
with U.S. customers and U.S. banks was illegal, tried to stack
the deck. They lied to banks about the true nature of their
business. Then, some of the defendants found banks willing to
flout the law for a fee. The defendants bet the house that they
could continue their scheme, and they lost."

Oof.

04-15-2011 , 02:18 PM

#177

CanuckG

adept

Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 788

first step on taking down these sites uh oh

04-15-2011 , 02:18 PM

#178

profELMO

adept

Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 727

I'd request a cashout, but if processors/banks have been charged it's probably a futile effort.

04-15-2011 , 02:18 PM

#179

kratos

adept

Join Date: May 2009 Posts: 753

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kevmath

Scott Tom of Absolute is one of the indicted, thought he was still no longer involved?

WOWOWOW

04-15-2011 , 02:18 PM

#180

MangDood

journeyman

Join Date: Apr 2010 Posts: 241

Gross. Just gross.

04-15-2011 , 02:18 PM

#181

NoahSD

Is Right

Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 18,843

I believe the five domains are pokerstars.com, fulltiltpoker.com, ub.com, ultimatebet.com, and absolutepoker.com.

04-15-2011 , 02:18 PM

#182

dozer

veteran

Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 2,549

Quote:

Originally Posted by jizak

They are shutting them down so they can start U.S. based ones and make $ from it: http://washingtonexaminer.com/local/...lears-congress

Yeah, I was thinking this, except ... most state gov'ts can't even pass a bill for regulated online poker. It's probably going to come to jizak's conclusion, but not for a long time.

04-15-2011 , 02:18 PM

#183

renodoc

Casino Olympics Champion

Join Date: Feb 2004 Posts: 8,357

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0buIN52ewCc

04-15-2011 , 02:18 PM

#184

RangeyMcTriplmerge

old hand

Join Date: Dec 2010 Posts: 1,467

I just went all in preflop with AA on full tilt 25nl rush and they help up. They held up.

WHAT IN SWEET JESUS' NAME IS GOING ON HERE?!?!

04-15-2011 , 02:18 PM

#185

vaNq

veteran

Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 2,303

lol

04-15-2011 , 02:19 PM

#186

knef

grinder

Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 615

Are we gonna have "run on the bank" scenario from poker players now? Feds are freezing bank accounts, players withdrawing their rolls - will the sites cope?

04-15-2011 , 02:19 PM

#187

trantortroll

banned

Join Date: Sep 2009 Posts: 196

ahhhhhhhhh ahhhhhhhhh wtf. This is some crazy poopy garbage poop. What is going on???? How can i show my mad poker skills to the world now???? On the plus side maybe Lederer and the jerks who own pokerstars will be arrested

04-15-2011 , 02:19 PM

#188

cap217

veteran

Join Date: Nov 2008 Posts: 3,170

here is the court order

http://www.justice.gov/usao/nys/pres...dictmentpr.pdf

04-15-2011 , 02:20 PM

#189

Dasfix

journeyman

Join Date: Mar 2011 Posts: 214

Quote:

Originally Posted by renodoc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0buIN52ewCc

very well played.

04-15-2011 , 02:20 PM

#190

skunkworks

Carpal \'Tunnel

Join Date: Sep 2003 Posts: 7,374

I'm not really sure why you guys are withdrawing your money. The US gov't can go after domains, but they can't (read: 99.99% won't) block your access to the site's game servers.

04-15-2011 , 02:20 PM

#191

JimHalpert

Howlpert

Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 50,746

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kevmath

US DOJ Press release:

http://www.justice.gov/usao/nys/pres...dictmentpr.pdf

Quote:

Of the billions of

dollars in payment transactions that the Poker Companies tricked

U.S. banks into processing, approximately one-third or more of

the funds went directly to the Poker Companies as revenue through

the "rake" charged to players on almost every poker hand played

online.

This part bothers me a lot

04-15-2011 , 02:20 PM

#192

Diamondback

centurion

Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 152

I guess it's off to the casino tonight instead. Means I'll have to change out of my sweats and maybe even shave. Maybe.

04-15-2011 , 02:20 PM

#193

Nick Rivers

Pooh-Bah

Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 4,726

I predict this is going to be another Neteller scenario. The feds are basically going to extort enormous sums of monies from the site operators. What great ****ing news this was to wake up to.

04-15-2011 , 02:21 PM

#194

Flippn Corner

Pooh-Bah

Join Date: Aug 2009 Posts: 4,783

this is very ironic after DC has made it clear they are opening up a internet gambling site

04-15-2011 , 02:21 PM

#195

EN09

Pooh-Bah

Join Date: Aug 2007 Posts: 4,271

Seized and charged on Tax Day FTW. nh, Feds.

Quote:

The house doesn’t always win.

Today, the founders of PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, and Absolute Poker are among eleven defendants charged by the Department of Justice with bank fraud, money laundering, and illegal gambling offenses, MarketWatch is reporting.

Authorities issued restraining orders for upwards of 75 bank accounts used by the poker companies and their payment processors. In addition, five Internet domain names used by the companies, the largest U.S. online poker websites, were seized.

http://blogs.barrons.com/techtraderd...ites-indicted/

04-15-2011 , 02:21 PM

#196

Doncock

newbie

Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 34

Do not know if I am being a slowpony, but pokerstars.com, fulltiltpoker.com and absolutepoker.com all work in Holland. Only ub.com displays said message here and nl.ultimatebet.com only displays a blank page. Never visited that site so I do not know if that is normal. I just finished playing a 4 hour session on Stars, so that server works as well.

04-15-2011 , 02:21 PM

#197

capiscc

grinder

Join Date: Mar 2011 Posts: 675

Cash out via check than bank transfer IMO

04-15-2011 , 02:21 PM

#198

cap217

veteran

Join Date: Nov 2008 Posts: 3,170

Because U.S. banks and credit card issuers were largely
unwilling to process their payments, the Poker Companies
allegedly used fraudulent methods to circumvent federal law and
trick these institutions into processing payments on their
behalf. For example, defendants ISAI SCHEINBERG and P.T. of
PokerStars, RAYMOND BITAR and NELSON BURTNICK of Full Tilt Poker,
and SCOTT TOM and BRENT BECKLEY of Absolute Poker, arranged for
the money received from U.S. gamblers to be disguised as payments
to hundreds of non-existent online merchants purporting to sell
merchandise such as jewelry and golf balls.

Last edited by slyless; 11-20-2023 at 05:59 AM. Reason: hide personal information