The founders of the three largest online poker sites operating in the United States were charged with bank fraud and money laundering, announced Friday, April 15 American justice. They are accused of having concealed the income from gambling on the internet, banned in this country. Although online gambling are prohibited in the United States since 2006, poker sites on the Internet accumulate billions of dollars by circumventing the law, notably by relocating abroad.
The World Trade Organization (WTO) has repeatedly singled out the U.S. policy regarding online games. According to the indictment released Friday, the poker sites disguised the payments by U.S. players in fictitious purchases of items like golf balls or jewelry. In total, eleven people were charged, including the founders of PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker, "said federal prosecutor in Manhattan, Preet Bharara, noting that Justice was seeking to recover $ 3 billion (2.1 billion euros) in this case.
SEIZURES OF DOMAIN NAMES The U.S. authorities have blocked 76 bank accounts used by businesses to collect payments for poker players in 14 countries. As he had done for sites that aim to foster infringement, the FBI seized five domain names and websites. The home page of Absolut Poker is for example replaced by a message from the FBI, the Federal Police and the Department of Justice warning that "this domain has been blocked by the FBI as part of an arrest warrant ".
The accused, "although knowing full well that their activities involving clients and U.S. banks were illegal, have tried to distort the deal," said Janice Fedarcyk, an FBI official. "They lied to banks about the true nature of their activities (...) and some have found banks willing to flout the law," she added.
"The defendants have bet their shirts that they could continue their combines, but they have lost," she said, employing the terminology used by players. Those charged are punishable by thirty years in prison for bank fraud, twenty years for money laundering and five years for the organization of gambling on the Internet. 
The World Trade Organization (WTO) has repeatedly singled out the U.S. policy regarding online games. According to the indictment released Friday, the poker sites disguised the payments by U.S. players in fictitious purchases of items like golf balls or jewelry. In total, eleven people were charged, including the founders of PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker, "said federal prosecutor in Manhattan, Preet Bharara, noting that Justice was seeking to recover $ 3 billion (2.1 billion euros) in this case.
SEIZURES OF DOMAIN NAMES The U.S. authorities have blocked 76 bank accounts used by businesses to collect payments for poker players in 14 countries. As he had done for sites that aim to foster infringement, the FBI seized five domain names and websites. The home page of Absolut Poker is for example replaced by a message from the FBI, the Federal Police and the Department of Justice warning that "this domain has been blocked by the FBI as part of an arrest warrant ".
The accused, "although knowing full well that their activities involving clients and U.S. banks were illegal, have tried to distort the deal," said Janice Fedarcyk, an FBI official. "They lied to banks about the true nature of their activities (...) and some have found banks willing to flout the law," she added.
"The defendants have bet their shirts that they could continue their combines, but they have lost," she said, employing the terminology used by players. Those charged are punishable by thirty years in prison for bank fraud, twenty years for money laundering and five years for the organization of gambling on the Internet.
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