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The U.S. Department of Justice has seized the domain names of 4 major poker rooms, PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, UB.com and Absolute Poker. According to a statement [3] from the Department of Justice, the founders of the sites are charged with “bank fraud, money laundering, and illegal gambling offenses." Earlier today, the websites of 4 major online poker providers, PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, UB.com and Absolute Poker have been seized by the FBI. Visiting any of the above sites from the United States will yield the warrant from the FBI, stating:
[4]
"This domain name has been seized by the FBI pursuant to an arrest warrant in rem obtained by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. Conducting, financing, managing, supervising, directing, or owning all or part of an illegal gambling business is a Federal crime."
The warrant also states that the defendants might face up to five years' imprisonment and a fine up to $250,000. According to the statement by the Department of Justice [3], the 11 defendants (including the founders of the three largest Internet poker companies doing business in the United States) are charged with bank fraud, money laundering, and illegal gambling offenses. If the defendants are found guilty in the 8th count crime, "Conspiracy to Commit Bank Fraud and Wire Fraud" they could face a maximum of 30 years in prison and a fine of $1 million. In addition, restraining orders were issued against more than 75 bank accounts utilized by the Poker Companies and their payment processors, and five Internet domain names used by the Poker Companies to host their illegal poker games were seized. - The statement says.
According to recent information, The Indictment and Civil Complaint seek at least $3 billion in civil money laundering penalties and forfeiture from the Poker Companies and the defendants.
It seems the FBI is quite serious; and they are to restrain the defendants as quickly as possible: according to the statement, "The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York is working with foreign law enforcement agencies and Interpol to secure the arrest of these defendants and the seizure of criminal proceeds located abroad."
The poker clients seem to be running as normal from outside the United States, but PokerStars is already banning US players.
Tom Dwan was quick to comment on the situation, he tweeted not an hour ago:
"I wouldn't be too worried about ftp/stars $$. I would shit myself abt ub/cake etc (...) I'd guess ftp/stars is worth more than 93c on the $ (almost 100% u get paid but could take 2-3mnths n worst case more) (...) Cake/merge etc maybe worth 75c, ub worth 40-45c"
The Poker Players Alliance is to release a statement in the coming hours.