Ed. Note: Will be curious to see what gets more views — the latest episode of Perspectives Weekly or Face the Ace. LOL. -dm
Breaking News! A grand jury has just indicted an online gambling payment processor! Plus, a New Jersey Senator rolls out new poker legislation, and affiliate programs change their Terms & Conditions!
The Associated Press is at least paying attention to the developments reported here on Pokerati in what is sure to be a complex legal situation — one that already is bringing up not just legally questionable issues of non-brick-and-mortar gambling, but also money laundering. They also clear up some of the details about who got tagged and how:
Documents obtained by the AP show that a judge in the district issued a seizure warrant last week for an account at a Wells Fargo bank in San Francisco, and that a federal prosecutor told a bank in Arizona to freeze an account.
In a letter dated Friday and faxed to Alliance Bank of Arizona, the prosecutor said that accounts held by payment processor Allied Systems Inc. are subject to seizure and forfeiture “because they constitute property involved in money laundering transactions and illegal gambling offenses.” The letter was signed by Arlo Devlin-Brown, the assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.
In another letter faxed the same day, Devlin-Brown asks that the bank treat the funds “as legally seized” by the FBI, saying that the government has probable cause that the gambling payments of U.S. residents had been directed to offshore illegal Internet gambling businesses.
Meanwhile, the British press is reporting:
America might be about to loosen its gambling corsets
These two stories aren’t as mutually exclusive as they might seem. Often, when times are changing, old holdovers from a previous philosophical era will turn uber-aggressive with their means and methods trying to give their way one last shot, and at a minimum hoping to take a few folks down with them as their kind are pushed out.
That’s certainly plausible considering how emphatic bureaucrats in the DOJ have been about the illegality of online poker/gambling even when the people and courts have repeatedly disagreed.
Normally we wouldn’t think much of a thread on 2+2 about some withdrawal problems at a major American-friendly online site. Usually these problems get resolved in a matter of days or maybe weeks, but this time something’s different.
Developing …
We’ll hold off on saying too much until we get more solid information, but basically, checks from PokerStars are “bouncing”, particularly with New York banks. Instant E-checks seems to be the payment processor most notably affected at present. However, it’s not just e-checks … paper checks are proving uncashable, too. Reliable sources tell us that this is not just a little snafu, but that it’s the direct result of DOJ enforcement actions somehow connected to the Federal Court in New York’s Southern District.
This is the same court, of course, that handled Neteller way back when, and more recently came to non-prosecution agreements guilty plea settlements with Anurag Dikshit et al. While the Party Poker dudes are officially in the clear,* is it possible the Feds are now saying, hey, that was fun, and we got a lot of money … let’s try it again with those PokerStars guys!?!
The FBI offers more clarity on who’s agreed to what between Party Poker peeps and the Feds here.
The best I can tell, right now Stars seems to be the target. No confirmation on the fates of Full Tilt and UB payment processing.
UPDATE: Problems at Full Tilt, too. (Thanks, Ken, for the info/link!) And Ultimate Bet.
Regardless, whatever shakes down (pun intended), it raises a lot of questions at an interesting time, considering how much big money gets transfered passed between poker players — particularly in the summer — often on an online site in exchange for casino chips and/or bricks of cash.
Might the value of the Euro have just gone up, at least in the poker economy? Seems plausible if they’re the only ones able to convert online bankrolls into real American WSOP buy-in dollars.
* Cases against (with?) two other Party principals, Ruth Parasol and Russ DeLeon, are still pending in the same court.
In this week’s episode:
What are the SSIGI and HR 5767?
It’s Bob Goodlatte’s Worst Nightmare…
Barney Frank and Ron Paul have introduced HR 5767 to target the financial powers of the UIGEA, and they are receiving the backing of several prominent groups including the SSIGI… or the Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative.
ePassporte Pushed Out of Industry…
Another one bites the dust…
Last Friday ePassporte abruptly abandoned their US Customers with little explanation. This week we learn that the US Attorney’s Office in New York has been putting the screws to them. Imagine that!
Legal Online Gambling in the US?
It’s no lie…
American citizens can use credit cards and ban accounts to fund their online gambling activities at this site that the US Government not only knows about, but actually encourages you to play at!
In this week’s episode:
There’s No Cheating in Online Poker!
Now that we have your attention…
We thought that we should let ya know that some companies are boldly selling poker bot software for under $200, claiming big returns on your investment! Good luck with that! =0)
Our Tribute to the FBI…
We just LOVE the FBI…
I mean, why wouldn’t we love the FBI? They give us so much free comedy material that we would otherwise have to write for ourselves! God bless those brave men and women fighting the tyranny of online gambling!
Washington State to be a Battleground… Again…
The War Rages on…
First, it was J Todd battling the State Gambling Commission over his websites in 2006. Then our friend Nick Jenkins was actually arrested and charged with online gambling in 2007. Now, in early 2008, Attorney and poker player Lee Rousso is challenging the State’s online gambling ban in court!
