16th April, 2011 proved to be a Black Day for online poker in the USA, as the owners of the four of the largest online poker websites - Absolute Poker, Ultimate Bet, Poker Stars and Full Tilt Poker - were charged with money laundering, illegal gambling offences and bank fraud by the US Department of Justice.

In a move that has come as a shock to the poker enthusiasts in

   the USA , the US government has issued restraining orders on more then 75 banks which were used by the renowned poker websites as well as their payment processors and as many as five Internet domain names.

These charges are considered to carry heavy penalties. The penalty for the conspiracy to commit wire fraud includes a fine of $1 million (or twice the amount of gain or loss) and imprisonment of 30 years, whereas for the violation of the UIGEA and operating illegal gambling business, the penalty involves a fine of $250,000 (or twice the gross gain or loss for each charge) and up to 5-year imprisonment. For the charges on money laundering conspiracy, the defendants may need to pay a fine of $500,000 (or double the amount laundered) or spend 20 years in prison.

A press release issued by the U.S. Department of Justice has revealed the names of 11 defendants who have been charged with four counts - money laundering conspiracy, conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud, operation of an illegal gambling business and violation of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. The 11 defendants are as follows; Brent Beckley and Scott Tom (Absolute Poker), Nelson Burtnick and Raymond Bitar (Full Tilt Poker), Paul Tate and Isai Scheinberg (Poker Stars) and John Campos, Chad Elie, Bradley Franzen, Ira Rubin and Ryan Lang (involved with payment processors).

Throwing further light on the matter, Janice K. Fedarcyk - FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge- has 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."

Emphasizing on the illegal activities of the defendants, Janice K. Fedarcyk- FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge- 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."

Poker websites, such as Bodogpoker.com and Playersonly.com remained unaffected by this most recent act of the US government. Both these websites also run a casino and sportsbook. With all the three largest poker websites- Absolute Poker, Full Tilt Poker and Poker Stars - banned, Party Poker will now reclaim is former status of being the most popular poker website.

The past few years of this decade have experienced several such seizures as well as indictments of payment processors in the US that were in charge of managing the financial transactions of the online poker websites. With time, as increasing number of processors were targeted and forced to shut down by the federal prosecutors, many poker websites started treading in a different direction to the point that some websites, in lieu of multi-million dollar investment in the banks, purchased the principles of a handful of small, local banks that were going through a rough financial phase.

The recent developments, quite obviously, have come as a huge disappointment for millions of poker enthusiasts across the country. Many players have now become even more apprehensive about playing poker online and have raised concerns over the age-old issue about whether “their money is safe?”

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» Online Poker Room Sites Shutdown by FBI for Fraud
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