Great summary, thank you.

did you find out who "gambler 1" and "gambler 2" are?

Since this is the politics forum, a more appropiate question to ask is why did they use these shady tactics to move the money around?

The answer is because of stupid State regulations on banking, designed to undermine the competition of the local casinos, which any poker player knows are terrible for poker both in terms of structure and the rake, and you can expect something similar once they have all the online market share.

It's incredible to see players saying stuff like "they deserve it for lying" when if these sites told the truth, no one would've processed their payments and you wouldn't have been able to play at all.

Or more accurately, it would be incredible if that were true. But nobody is saying that.

I posted in legislation that they should take the larry summers defense and argue "Don't Blame Financial Innovation..." It seems to work for the banksters.

I have a few minutes before the Missus is dragging me out to some kind of performance art thingy (I kid you not), so I'll at least recite the counts, and maybe start discussing the elements of the crimes.

The indictment consists of nine counts.

Ct 1: Conspiracy to violate the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act
Ct 2: Substantive violation of the UIGEA (involving Pokerstars)
Ct 3: Substantive violation of the UIGEA (involving Full Tilt)
Ct 4: Substantive violation of the UIGEA (involving Absolute)
Ct 5: Operation of an illegal gambling business (involving Pokerstars)
Ct 6: Operation of an illegal gambling business (involving Full Tilt)
Ct 7: Operation of an illegal gambling business (involving Absolute)
Ct 8: Conspiracy to commit bank fraud and wire fraud
Ct 9: Conspiracy to commit money laundering

Separate from these counts are "forfeiture allegations," in which the government asserts the right to recover property and money attributable to the aforementioned counts.

From Pokerstars, they seek the forfeiture of $1.5 billion.
From Full Tilt, they seek the forfeiture of $1 billion.
From Absolute, they seek the forfeiture of merely $500 million.

Oh, I guess I should explain the difference between a conspiracy and the "substantive" counts.

A conspiracy is simply an illegal agreement to commit a crime. The substantive count is the actual commission of that crime. The proof of the two counts often is identical, but conspiracies are easier to prove (because a conspiracy to do something does not require that the goal be accomplished).

Are Absolute and UB not treated as the same company as far as the charges go?

I haven't seen anybody really take a shot at how the extradition scenario is likely to play out?

Are the sites definitely going to fight it in the US or is there a chance they are going to take the money they have made so far that isn't locked up and just fight extradition/hide out in countries that wont, ect.

Indictment does not refer to Ultimate Bet at all, IIRC.

Also, I feel bad about the lack of a graph, so here's one. Doesn't have much to do with the indictment, though.

These questions are beyond my pay grade. I'll just note that it appears that the defendants are scattered among several countries, which may have different views as to whether to cooperate with extradition. The first step in the analysis would be to figure out which countries even have extradition treaties (though it can happen without a treaty too).

Conspiracy is the crown jewel for federal prosecutors. It is merely an agreement to commit a criminal act, and the penalties are often as severe as the ones for the commission of the crime itself. It's also great for the government because once you flip someone you are basically home on a conspiracy charge, assuming they are credible.

Interesting... I get the same FBI message at UltimateBet.com as I do at the others. So I guess even if they weren't mentioned by name, UB is still involved.

http://www.ultimatebet.com/

It's also broad as hell in some jurisdictions, to the point where you literally do not need to have any communication with co-conspirators.