All,
I'm freaking out here and I decided to post this here due to the volume of readers and the participation I'm seeing. I also saw an older post here about a similar situation.

I recently had 2 gentlement that came by me house unannounced and introduced themselves (if I remember correctly) as the Secret Service. They showed me there documentation. At this point I thought, "Oh, they must be here about my Marine buddy that is trying to become a board patrol agent of some sort." Then they went on to explain they are conducting an investigation that I may or may not be involved in and may or may not have some information. They asked if they could come in. I asked what is it concerning first because I didn't even know if these guys were real agents. They said, "It is conerning xxxxxxx." The x's are for the site I had been gambling at. I said, "OH!!!, ok. Come on in." Immediately they said I'm not in any trouble. They wanted to know things if I used the site, how long, how did I deposit money, how did I get the money out, did it come regular mail or something like fedex, etc.

I gave them all the information they wanted. They were able to show my a photocopy of one of my checks. I thought for sure I was in deep trouble, but in the end, they made make a written statement as a witness that said would probably keep me from having to go to court. When they left they said I will probably never hear from them again.

Ok, so now I'm freaked out a bit. I've read that the UIGEA is basically aimed towards the payment processors... not the gamblers like us. However, I don't know if that is exactly true based on what I read about 10 minutes ago. I think I read something about accepting payments from gambling sites is illegal. I really don't know, but I know I'm scared.

Can anyone shed some light on this for me? Has this happened to anyone else? The other post describing a story similar to mine didn't have any other people saying it happened to them and most thought it was BS. I would imagine others here will imagine my story is BS too, but I assure you it is not...unfortunately I don't have a way to prove it.

I don't want to state my name, site I was using, or state. I don't think my state has any of their own laws on internet gambling.

Can I believe them that I'm not in trouble? It sounded like they are after the site and the people processing the payments. Or will I be in trouble say a year from now when all this might go down?

I thought the site I was using was legal. They say they take US players. And again I thought the law went after the payers, not the players.

Thanks!
BR9

Fortunately I saw this right away.

Don't use an internet message board for advice on this.

Insights from posters may or may not be helpful. Your best best is to contact an attorney who has experience representing clients who have been contacted in person by the DOJ so you can tell your entire story in confidence (e.g. all the facts, without generalities) and be properly advised what your rights are and how to proceed.

Never talk to feds without a lawyer.

Always a solid plan for all Law Enforcement/Government agencies.

So is everyone here thinking i'm in trouble then?

Just get a lawyer, posting about it in public is bad.

History says you aren't in trouble, they're making a case against processors or maybe against a site, so although I understnd the angst I wouldnt exactly be fearing a trip to prison.

That said, talking without a lawyer is risky because anything you say that's false could lead to Federal charges. Best to play it safe and talk to a lawyer, and definitely dont take advice from message board posters.

If its a poker site, contact Skallagrim (see the PPA forum) he runs the PPA's litigation outreach program and can get you in touch with the right people. I'm not sure you can send PM's yet, but Im sure he'll see this thread and let you know how to contact him if you are interested.

Whatever else may be true about your post, if events unfolded the way you describe, then there is little additional risk involved in providing some details, such as the state you are from. After all, the guys who you seem worried about already know who you are and, thanks to you, have a statement about what you did.

It is a little late, but you should get lawyered up before talking to anyone who shows up at your house uninvited and starts asking you a bunch of questions, flashes you a copy of a check you wrote et cetera.

At a minimum, if you are worried, contact a lawyer to get advice on whehter your un-named state has some law you might have broken by whatever you copped to already. you should get a copy of any written statement you gave these guys as well. The PPA Litigation Support Network should be able to help you, it is right up their alley.

It would be odd if neither of these guys left a busness card for such a cooperative soul as you relate you were. That you left out that seemingly insignificant item makes your long detailed tale a bit suspect, but still possible.

While i hope you are not, you may be in trouble....maybe what you signed amounts to a confession that can be used against you in a court of law. Solid advice above:"Never talk to the feds without a lawyer present"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8z7NC5sgik

Given how squeamish you are in the rest of your post about getting in trouble for internet gambling at site xxxxxxx, why were you so eager to invite the unknown gents in to chat about same?? Seems strange...

No. Chances are they aren't after any individual players, but just want evidence to bring more actions (property seizures, indictments) against the payment processor(s) for the site. Getting a lawyer right now won't be of any use to you as any damage you might have done to your rights and status has already been done. You only need a lawyer if you hear from them again. If you can't sleep, you might want to hire a lawyer to contact the federal agency for damage control, but that might only bring more interest in you if they truly are not of a mind to bother you again.

I'm not a lawyer. If you need legal advice, seek out a lawyer. If you are a Premium Member of the PPA, you have access to the PPA's Litigation Support Network.

Oh how I wish I was lucky enough to have someone who represented the DoJ show up at my doorstep.

OP the next time that happens tell those disgraceful representations of human beings to get THE **** OFF YOUR PROPERTY!

They can't do **** to you because you haven't done anything wrong. It's called INFORMATION BY INTIMIDATION. Those pieces of ****.

OP I can understand that you might be reluctant to share too much info ITT but We're (I'm) curious about what state you're in. Could your SN be a hint about what state this happened in?

Don't even waste your money on a lawyer, there's no need for it. No matter what you've already said or written that's fine, you can just tell them they already have everything they need from you and that there's not going to be any more cooperation. Period.

it's time to go Michael Scoffield on them.

Not sure I'd make this sort of definitive statement without finding out details. If they can prove he played from WA state, for example, and he gave these guys reason to stick it to him, they could cause major problems for him.

All,
I'm going to try not to worry about it much anymore. What's done is done. I think since it was guys from DOJ and/or SS, they are going after the big fish, not me.

I just wish I understood the laws better so I would know if I did anything wrong or illegal. Many sites state it is not illegal for us players to gamble online... stating the law only makes the money part of it illegal... the payments and how the payments are made and processed using payment processors and 3rd parties. Based on those readings that state the above, that also makes me think they really were not interested in me and are only interested in the big fish... again being the gambling site and the processors.

If anyone has any useful information, please let me know.

Thanks,
BR

Oh, and my name has nothing to do with my location! And no, I'm not in WA... if I was, I would be very worried. I'm 99.9 percent certain my state has no law about online gambling.

In before permafrost asks what law makes your play legal.

NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

PLEASE don't do that again.

Never let pigs into your house without a warrant. Never say ANYTHING without a lawyer.

OP the UIGEA is not targeting players. It targets the banks. So, if you don't own or operate a bank I wouldn't worry about it. Granted I'm not a lawyer so I can't say that for certain. It's just my layman's understanding.

I would reiterate what a lot of other posters have said though. In the future it's probably smart not to answer their questions at all. You're just putting yourself if you talk to them. They may ask you something that you feel uncomfortable telling them and you lie because you're nervous. If they can prove it then you've just committed a crime. Pretty much answering their questions benefits them not you. I'd just ask them if you're legally obligated to answer their questions. I don't think they can lie to that question. If they say no then just say "I'm sorry but I'd rather not answer any questions at this time." Be polite but don't just give in to whatever they want you to do.

Also I'm pretty sure they can lie to you about whether you're under investigation or not. So, "you haven't done anything wrong" may make you feel warm and fuzzy but it doesn't really mean anything.

A few facts that I hope will help make sense of the OP's report:

1) Unless under subpoena, under other formal legal process, or subject to some form of mandatory reporting law (as with doctors and suspected child abuse) you are never obligated to speak with a law enforcement officer. You can politely refuse to say anything and the officer must accept that (though he or she may then seek that formal legal process).

2) If you do start talking, be sure everything you say is 100% true to the best of your knowledge and belief. Lying to a Federal agent is a serious crime and most states also have statutes making it a crime to lie to their agents too.

3) As regards the situation, I am not going to offer my opinion but I am going to remind you of something: statements from players confirming that certain checks, wires, or other money transfers were from a poker site have been used in multiple warrants to seize money from payment processors. The most recent report of this can be found in the recent Forbes article on DOJ activities in WA state: http://blogs.forbes.com/nathanvardi/...in-washington/ - specifically noted in that article is the fact that "Those bank accounts were used to issue checks that represented proceeds from online poker play at Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker, according to online poker players in the state of Washington who received them and spoke to government investigators, the court documents say."

4) To my knowledge, none of the poker players making those statements have been charged with any kind of criminal offense ... so far.

Skallagrim

Makes me really upset that people under no obligation just invite people with perceived authority right into their house and answer whatever questions they want all willy nilly.

The reason why people want to answer their questions and be nice is that there is a non-zero chance that they can make things really suck for you if you don't and you pretty much have to make a snap decision.

And it is unclear that there is any real benefit to you in playing hardball as they likely know the answers to the questions they are asking to begin with.