'Black Friday' and associated fallout megathread

[xdeucesx]

the .com names of full tilt poker, pokerstars and ub have been seized and CNN just reported that all three companies have been charged with illegal gambling and Fraud

not sure what to make of this, as of 2:10 on 4/15 the sites are still up/running and playable.

will keep posting updates as i find them

for an updated list of poker sites see the Cardschat US poker sites page.

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edit 4/16

Extensive cliffnotes so far

the .com names of all three sites has been seized and CNN just reported that all three companies have been charged with illegal gambling and Fraud


not sure what to make of this, as of 2:10 on 4/15 the sites are still up/running and playable.

will keep posting updates as i find them

The court order issued

Here's the court order

http://www.justice.gov/usao/nys/pressreleases/April11/scheinbergetalindictmentpr.pdf

The potential implication for defendants, along with an article on today's events

In addition to the criminal charges, the US Attorney filed a civil suit seeking $3 billion in damages. The FBI froze 75 bank accounts and seized five websites, in addition to the arrests that were made today.

The bank and wire fraud charges carry a sentence of up to 30 years in prison.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/online-poker-websites-fraud-2011-4#ixzz1JcP0FrjE

The charges themselves

Charges are:

1 - Conspiracy to Violate Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGIEA)
2 - Violation of Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGIEA)
3 - Operation of Illegal Gambling Business
4 - Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud and Bank Fraud
5 - Money Laundering Conspiracy

The defendants

http://www.pokernews.com/news/2011/04/online-poker-big-three-indicted-10218.htm

In the indictment, Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said, "As charged, these defendants concocted an elaborate criminal fraud scheme, alternately tricking some U.S. banks and effectively bribing others to assure the continued flow of billions in illegal gambling profits. Moreover, as we allege, in their zeal to circumvent the gambling laws, the defendants also engaged in massive money laundering and bank fraud. Foreign firms that choose to operate in the United States are not free to flout the laws they don’t like simply because they can’t bear to be parted from their profits."


FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge Janice K. Fedarcyk 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."


At least $3 billion in civil money laundering penalties from both the poker companies and defendants is being sought after. According to the indictment, Campos and Elie were arrested Friday morning in Utah and Las Vegas, Nevada, respectively. Franzen is expected to appear in court for his arraignment on April 19, 2011. Those who are not in the United States, Scheinberg, Bitar, Burtnick, Tate, Tom, Beckley, Rubin, and Lang, have not been arrested, but the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Southern District of New York is working with foreign law enforcement agencies and Interpol to arrest the defendants.

You can no longer play at stars

Article on the man who is now the most hated person in the poker community

http://www.businessinsider.com/boy-genius-online-poker-scandal-2011-4

Exclusive CC article: https://www.cardschat.com/forum/general-poker-13/poker-sites-seized-fbi-196134/

[On Brits with money online]It`s tough to be sure until the dust settles, but you should be fine. You are a UK citizen and have broken no UK laws. The US government have no jurisdiction over you and, if they were to cause you a financial loss by their unjustified interference in your affairs, you would have a case to sue them for compensation.

Potential positives?

1:00 p.m. PDT: If there is any bright side to this black Friday, it could be that this DOJ affront makes it clear to Congressional leaders like Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid that federal legislation to officially legalize online poker must move quickly.

 

[LuckyChippy]

****, CNN has definitely reported on it??

 

[TylerN]

Fml WTF fml

 

[xdeucesx]

yes, on their twitter and on reuters.com banner...

http://www.reuters.com/

 

[naruto_miu]

WTF really, why what seems to be the issue?

 

[xdeucesx]

not sure, but the charges seem pretty serious...this could be the beginning of the end of ftp/ps

 

[xdeucesx]

this is at ultimatebet.com

 

[cAPSLOCK]

And I only have one more day left on my Take 2!! Darn feds!

 

[Poof]

FML, an article says it is on certain parts of the world, but could take up to 48 hours, this really sucks!
Thank goodness I have money on Carbon, lol

 

[wolfie]

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Federal authorities unsealed an indictment Friday against the founders of the three largest internet poker companies operating in the U.S. The indictment charges eleven defendants, including the founders of PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, and Absolute Poker, with bank fraud, money laundering, and illegal gambling offenses, according to Federal authorities in New York. Restraining orders were issued against more than 75 bank accounts used by the poker companies and their payment processors, while five Internet domain names used by the companies to host poker games were seized, federal authorities added in a statement.


Lees meer: http://nl.pokernews.com/poker-forum/topic193872/

 

[onemorechance]

Sky confirmed falling

 

[WVHillbilly]

You can still log in and play, you just can't get to their website at the moment. I'd say they'll all have alternate domains up and running by the end of the weekend. The real danger in all this is if FTP/Star give up the US market because these ****heads are making things too expensive.

 

[onemorechance]

Here's the court order

http://www.justice.gov/usao/nys/pressreleases/April11/scheinbergetalindictmentpr.pdf

 

[xdeucesx]

merge network is untouched so far, so they must not of been caught up in this

Seriously bad news for ftp/ps/ub

 

[xdeucesx]

You can still log in and play, you just can't get to their website at the moment. I'd say they'll all have alternate domains up and running by the end of the weekend. The real danger in all this is if FTP/Star give up the US market because these ****heads are making things too expensive.

exactly what im afraid of


ya the .net domains are okay, this happened previously w/bodog, so they changed the name to bodoglife.com, but they fought back and won their original domain name back

 

[JOEBOB69]

You thought you were haveing trouble withdrawing money form FTP before,ha ha ha.

 

[LuckyChippy]

This means the end of FT and PS in the US, I honestly believe they'll just say **** this, it's too expensive and too much hassle:

In addition to the criminal charges, the US Attorney filed a civil suit seeking $3 billion in damages. The FBI froze 75 bank accounts and seized five websites, in addition to the arrests that were made today.

The bank and wire fraud charges carry a sentence of up to 30 years in prison.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/online-poker-websites-fraud-2011-4#ixzz1JcP0FrjE

 

[onemorechance]

Charges are:

1 - Conspiracy to Violate Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGIEA)
2 - Violation of Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGIEA)
3 - Operation of Illegal Gambling Business
4 - Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud and Bank Fraud
5 - Money Laundering Conspiracy

 

[LuckyChippy]

Last 2 charges are serious business.

 

[xdeucesx]

I'm personally not about to withdraw or anything, but I've seen people pulling money off so far

This seems to be the 1st step in going after these major companies,

seems odd timing, just as online poker becomes legal in D.C./almost in Nevada, all to relative and its no secret the big time casino's don't appreciate FTP/PS/UB etc.

 

[JOEBOB69]

Well my fellow U.S. players live poker is much softer any way.

 

[onemorechance]

'**** you to the F.B.I' (Shakur, Tupac, 1991)

 

[onemorechance]

The defendants

 

[xdeucesx]

FTP/PS/UB is probably going to just pull out now

 

[WVHillbilly]

I'll hold off on saying that. Way too early to be speculating. Let's at least see how the sites respond.