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Originally Posted by FedorViaMastery
I've been following this thread from page 1 after first hearing the news on a leading Swedish newspaper, and I just wanted to chime in;
All the people who are going crazy and somehow making Barack personally responsible for this; please understand that a crime has been committed and a serious one at that. The DOJ have pages and pages with detailed information on how Bitar and Company have committed fraud among other charges. The bribery charges are very serious and they seem to have a profound understanding on how they have done it, with the proof to back it up. There will be repercussions for the people involved.
It's of course very sad that the greed of these few people affects millions of unknowing poker players around the world and especially in the US, but please don't make it out to be some sort of a crusade against the poker community. The DOJ are treating this as just as it should; major corporations have committed corporate crimes.
To all those flaunting there fancy law degrees and claims that "they have beaten DOJ attorneys in court", please stop. Even if it is true, from all the information that has been released, the DOJ has been following this for a while and has all the information they need to win this case.
I would also like to say that I don't think there is need for the people to go crazy and start panic-withdrawing all their money. It makes no difference if you withdraw them now because the payment processers are being charged and seized as well, so you are probably lucky if you receive your money, but in any case your money is likely safe, even if you won't be able to withdraw them immediately. The government won't seize the players funds', if anything they'll seize the rake that was used to commit these crimes.
Before you flame me, keep in mind that I'm not taking the DOJ's side, I have money on Stars that I can't withdraw too, but it is obvious that the people being prosecuted have committed crimes and they should be held responsible. Also, I can't believe more people aren't talking about the fact that Scott Tom STILL is in charge of AP, after all the scandals. Why are people still playing on these corrupt sites run by corrupt people?
Yeah, you're probably right. I jumped the wagon myself but in truth, DOJ doesn't really **** around and you have to do something pretty serious to get on its radar.
Assuming DOJ is in the right, my only concern is why they did it so suddenly on all 3 sites. Are the 3 connected? As little as I understand law, you don't really arrest 3 thieves who robbed 3 different banks and say you're all related - you arrest them individually. So I'm confused why all 3 were treated as 1.
I'm also a little concerned about the fact that DOJ did not seem to care about how the players and the players' finances would be treated. If a criminal is arrested or charged with a crime he's guilty off, why would he turn over all his cash to the bank if he's safe overseas?