4/15/11 PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, and Absolute Poker Charged with Money Laundering & Bank Fraud

UPDATE- 5/4/11 - Indicted Poker Websites Bound for Bankruptcy
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42906061/ns/business-us_business/t/indicted-poker...

Absolute Poker
"Absolute Poker, which was founded in by four fraternity brothers at the University of Montana in 2002, grew to become one of the top poker sites for American card players when it refused to stop accepting bets from U.S. players following passage of the UIGEA. But a cheating scandal in 2007 that the company blamed on a rogue insider shook the faith of many players, leading to erosion of its market share.

Management of the company, which merged with UB sometime in the mid-2000s, also has been involved in a running battle with shareholders over what many considered runaway spending. In 2009, for example, the company reported a loss of $33.7 million despite income of $215.3 million, according to the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times.

Shareholders were working on a plan to sell the company last month, but that was quashed when the federal indictment was handed down, the newspaper reported Sunday."

1) http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110421/ap_on_hi_te/us_online_poker_fallout
Published on 15 Apr 11 19:30 by DavidJMA

The FBI has seized the main internet domains of the biggest US-facing poker rooms and charged its owners and managers with fraud, money laundering and illegal gambling.

Executives at PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, UltimateBet and AbsolutePoker have been charged with several felonies such as illegal gambling, money laundering and fraud. The main internet domains of these poker rooms were seized and now show an FBI notice. The FBI apparently also seized or froze more than 75 bank accounts of poker payment processors located in the US.

The main subjects of the charges are eleven poker executives such as Isai Steinberg of PokerStars and Raymond Bitar of Full Tilt Poker. Thus far there have been two arrests in the US, but neither are thought to be poker executives. The other defendents aren't currently on US soil according to a statement by the US Department of Justice. If arrested and convicted, the defendants could face very significant fines and possibly even jail time.

The orginial Twitter message released by news agency Reuters reads: "Three Largest Internet Poker Companies Charged With Fraud, Illegal Gambling -- Pokerstars, Full Tilt Poker, & Absolute Poker -- Charged".

18:30 GMT durrrr comments
Tom Dwan writes on Twitter: "I long ago realized that laws replaced common sense in every day government, however I still thought n hoped the regulation of billion dollar industries was usually done in a logical fashion."

18:34 GMT PokerStars Traffic declining
Kevmath from the US, editor at Bluff Magazine and 2+2 moderator reports: "Last 10 minutes or so, Stars has dropped 15k players".

18:36 GMT PokerStars doesn't allow any US players
ESPN reports via Twitter that several US players are facing problems while connecting to PokerStars.

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[RafaelAntizz]

ye whats the problem, the more people gambling the better for the economy. more ppl get broke and now have to work.

[dannyhantx]

this is funny, with the unemployment rate and the shitty economy, the government's still worried about crap like this rather than trying to fix the economy. It's like that one quote from 2Pac, "instead of fixing poverty, they got a war on drugs so that the police can bother me."

[pamelaxsx]

@pokerjon06 They got done for illegal gambling practises too, which would suggest it was rigged

[pokerjon06]

@coldplay9982 ur an idiot if you think all these sites are scams....do you truly even understand the concept of online poker and realize they don't need to scam anyone to make money....I'm thinking your dumbass hasn't ever even played online...yet you have an uneducated opinion about the matter....donkey!

[pajazzari]

@Foreverguga1 Sure .... some one need win.... They are criminals , not stupids... some one got to win...

If no one Win ... 4 sure no one play there... but ... in real life is 70% 30% .... in Pokerscams is 98% 2% ...

Is a scam... U need C some videos from " magic612" here in youtube man... and u need C %'s in hands ....

Example : A A .. Win just 20% time ... wen some one call... Pokerscams say 70% cus all fold.. but when some one call , just 20% or less u won that hand... on jokerstars.

[Foreverguga1]

@philly3188

Exactly. Finally someone who understands. This is all about money and not about integrity

[Foreverguga1]

@pajazzari

If it was rigged, how can some people make money off it consistently?

About 90% of players are losing money online. The other 10% is winning because they have an edge and play better. Not because they can see hole cards.

What site owners do with their winnings is completely irrelevant

[pajazzari]

@Foreverguga1 Yeah ,... sure... People whith Money Laundering have a NOT RIGGED site... sure...

Who is the moron ??? I have a Money Laundering but Im a good person and A legit site .... OMG... hahaha

[philly3188]

THESE CHARGES ARE BOGUS! THE FEDS ARE JUST MAD THEY CANT TAX THE MONEY CAUSE IT WAS PLACED IN FOREIGN ACCOUNTS AND THERE IS OBVIOUSLY A BIGGER AGENDA TO PROTECT THE CASINOS AND THE PLAN TO SUCK EVERYONE'S MONEY UP AND CAUSE A MASSIVE DEPRESSION.....IT HAS BEGUN.... WE ARE THE PEOPLE? WHO IS TRYING TO REMOVE US FROM THE CONSTITUTION? THIS IS OUR COUNTRY NOT THE FEDS, THEY WORK FOR US!

[mstainz]

@mstainz I've made a living playing on fulltilt for 3 years now, just because you are bad and too ignorant to realize you are bad, does not make this site a scam.