Senior executives from online betting companies like PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and Abolute Poker indicted by the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York in U.S. for bank fraud, money laundering, illegal gambling and other crimes.
Three defendants were arraigned in federal courts in New York and Utah on Monday and Tuesday, and eight other defendants remain at large outside the U.S., said an official from the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York.
According to U.S. authorities, the companies violated U.S. laws relating to internet gambling and the eight defendants are believed to be either in Costa Rica, Ireland and the Isle of Man.
In connection with this case, the deputy director of the Organismo de Investigación Judicial (OIJ) - Judicial Investigation Organization - Francisco Segura said he did not know there was an arrest warrant but said it submitted they will act on such.
Interpol in Costa Rica says that even if they are able to locate the suspects, they cannot detain them, that that is the job of the local law enforcement.
Costa Rica has longtime been considered a Mecca of online gambling in poker and sports books employing thousands of bilingual staff who serviced and solicited gamblers in the United States and around the world.
In addition to indicting the owners and financiers of the websites and seizing their Internet addresses, prosecutors are seeking $3 billion in assets from the three companies and have seized or frozen 76 bank accounts they are suspected of using in 14 countries.
The U.S. government has blocked U.S. gamblers from logging on to the offshore sites, which are accused of tricking and bribing banks into processing billions of dollars in illegal profits. Now gamblers who dreamed of enormous prizes in Las Vegas, or even used online poker to make a living, can't access online bankrolls that in some cases reach six figures.
Some predict the American online poker industry, estimated to be worth up to $6 billion, may fold under the weight of the investigations
“Our 1.2 million members are shocked and outraged,” said John Pappas, executive director of the Poker Players’ Alliance. Mr. Pappas said although the sites were up and running again, many U.S. users were unable to access their funds.
“Many players cannot get access to their money,” he said, “It is a confusing and concerning time for our members.”
“We think the government’s assertion that Internet poker is illegal is wrong,” Mr. Pappas added, noting that the law under which some of the charges were filed — the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act — made it a crime to accept or process payments in connection with unlawful Internet gambling, but did not define such gambling. He called this “a legal gray area that Congress needs to address.”
The U.S. attorney’s office official said it was the second prosecution the office had launched under the act, the first being last year.
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