US authorities freeze US poker sites' assets, Stars and Tilt included 10/06/2009
Stephen Carter
Federal prosecutors have ordered several US banks to freeze payment processor accounts containing more than US$30m in payments owed to poker players at four offshore sites, including Poker Stars and Full Tilt.
The government action came to light over the weekend after instant echeques issued by payment processing companies Allied Systems and Account Services on behalf of the sites began bouncing.
In an official statement, Full Tilt told players that all failed withdrawals using the two frozen payment processors have been returned to Full Tilt player accounts.
Banks which received the freezing orders over the past two weeks include Citibank, Wells Fargo and two smaller banks. More than US$33m is currently owed to 27,000 players on the sites.
According to a letter faxed on Friday to Alliance Bank of Arizona and signed by Arlo Devlin-Brown, assistant US attorney for the Southern District of New York, the accounts held by payment processor Allied Systems were subject to seizure and forfeiture “because they constitute property involved in money laundering transactions and illegal gambling offenses.”
However, John Pappas executive director of grassroots advocacy group the Poker Players Alliance, said the Southern District had taken the action when current law regarding the activity is far from clear. “No federal or state court has ever found a payment processor or a player accessing an internet poker site to have violated the federal laws alleged by the Southern District in this case.”
Pappas also raised legal concerns that the Southern District’s lack of a seizure warrant in at least two instances is “inconsistent with previously stated Department of Justice policy (and) the type of conduct that the Department has recently committed to change.”
The office of the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, when contacted by eGaming Review, declined to comment.
In other US poker news reported on
EGRmagazine.com this week, new research has revealed that PartyPoker and 888 continue to be the most visible poker sites to American internet users despite their no longer taking US bets (
more).
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Posted: 10/06/2009
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