The United States Attorney\’s office from the District of Maryland took action against two more gambling businesses and three defendants today. The indictments were unsealed this afternoon.
This is a summary of the situation from an article in the Baltimore Sun:
The indictments, returned late last month and unsealed Monday, are the result of a two-year sting operation by the Homeland Security Investigations in Baltimore, a division of U.S. Customs and Immigration enforcement. The agency set up a phony payment processing business in Atlantic City and spent two years infiltrating the world of illegal online betting.
Agents ultimately handled more than $33 million in transactions and uncovered a thriving criminal community in Maryland and beyond: \”There are numerous individuals in Maryland who have authorized payments to these [foreign] businesses,\” claims one agent\’s sworn affidavit, filed with court records.
Charged in the indictments are ThrillX Systems Ltd. and owners Darren Wright and David Parchomchuk, both of British Columbia, Canada; and K23 Financial Services (known as BMX Entertainment), run by defendant Ann Marie Puig, of San Jose, Costa Rica. They\’re all charged with running an illegal gambling business and money laundering through various Web sites seized Monday, including Truepoker.com and Funtimebingo.com.
Banners saying the sites had been shut down were expected to replace the websites Monday, though they had not yet been posted by mid-afternoon
The following links are the current stories on the subject:
Full DOJ press release -> OPERATORS OF INTERNET GAMBLING SITES AND THEIR BUSINESSES INDICTED FOR RUNNING AN ILLEGAL GAMBLING BUSINESS AND MONEY LAUNDERING (h/t @Kevmath)
Article in Baltimore Sun -> Baltimore feds target Internet gambling (h/t @GamingCounsel)
Article in The Republic -> Gambling web sites, international bank accounts seized in federal sting (h/t @Kevmath)
Maryland criminal code link cited -> Section 12-102 in Maryland Criminal Law Code (h/t @AlexRipps)