Owerners of PS, FTP and Absoloute get charged

1357111317

Well-Known Member
#1
(Dead link: http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/04/15/tech-us-poker-fraud-idUKTRE73E6SF20110415)

Scary for people with money on these sites. Would anyone like to comment what Americans and non-americans should do if they have money on these sites? Withdraw ASAP or wait it out?
 

shadroch

Well-Known Member
#7
moo321 said:
Poker isn't illegal unless there's a state law on it.
Are you serious? The Federal law makes it illegal for banks to make any transactions related to internet gambling. This has nothing to do with people playing poker and is about the web sites and the banks conspiring to launder money and commit bank fraud.
 

1357111317

Well-Known Member
#9
Incorrect rukus, If you have logged out recently, you have to download an update which doesnt allow US players to play for money. Stars hasnt allowed US players for over 24 hours now.
 

1357111317

Well-Known Member
#11
fubster said:
there isn't anything illegal about online poker
I think that is a very grey part of the law right now. They are mostly getting charged with wire and bank fraud from what i understand, nothing to do with actualy illegal gambling.
 

Machinist

Well-Known Member
#12
Just remember this whole internet gambling has nothing to do with laws and EVERYTHING to do with the Government not getting "their" piece of the pie.!! Isn't it amazing how they didn't stop these boys from the get go? Wasn't this kind of tactics used a few years back?
So I guess you wait until these companies have grown large enough to warrant a fight...IE enough money to go after......

Machinist
 

MangoJ

Well-Known Member
#13
The question boils down to: When playing poker online, exactly where does the gambling happen ? The physical location where all bets and cards happen is the location of the gaming server. But laws are different, especially in the age of internet.

Nothing illegal to fly to Malta (or whereever) and personally join a casino to play poker.
Is it illegal to call an agent (located in Malta) from the US, and ask him to place a bet ? Is it illegal to send the agent money in advance, and call him later to place a bet ? What if the agent is not a person, but a software ? And it is from the same company running the casino ?

For me all those questions are equivalent, and thus should be legal.
If there is a law declining money transaction to/from poker companies, how do you enforce it ? People could simply send checks per mail or cash per Western Union ...
 
#14
Full Tilt Poker, Absolute Poker and PokerStars Hit with Fraud

Internet gambling sites owners charged with fraud

NEW YORK | Fri Apr 15, 2011 3:42pm EDT


(Reuters) - The owners of three of the largest Internet poker companies operating in the United States were accused on Friday of tricking regulators and banks into processing billions of dollars of illegal Internet gambling proceeds.

Eleven people, including the owners of Full Tilt Poker, Absolute Poker and PokerStars, were charged with violating U.S. anti-Internet gambling laws, according to charges filed by federal prosecutors in Manhattan.

Prosecutors also filed civil money laundering charges seeking to recover at least $3 billion from the companies, which are all based overseas, court documents said.

The Internet domain names of the companies were also seized.

Representatives for the companies could not immediately be reached to comment on the charges.

Two of the men were arrested on Friday, one is expected to turn himself in to law enforcement and eight others are not currently in the United States, prosecutors said.

Raymond Bitar, 39, of Full Tilt Poker and Isai Scheinberg, 64, of PokerStars were charged with violating the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act and other laws. Absolute Poker owners Brent Beckley, 31, and Scott Tom, 31, faced similar charges.


Raymond Bitar

The criminal charges outlined a scheme by the company owners and some of their employees to direct the gambling profits to online shell companies that would appear legitimate to banks processing payments.

The charges are part of a crackdown on Internet gambling in the United States, where it has been illegal since 2006.

In March, Wynn Resorts Ltd said it had entered into a partnership with PokerStars, and that they would work for passage of U.S. legislation on Internet poker.

U.S. lawmakers have in the past tried to pass legislation legalizing Internet gambling in the hope of reaping billions in tax revenue.

(Reporting by Basil Katz; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)
 
#15
(Dead link: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2011/0418/1224294910339.html) _The Irish Times - Monday, April 18, 2011 - _
US attorney Preet Bharara brought the charges on Friday with indictments including charges of bank fraud, money laundering and illegal gambling.

The indictment says the companies used fraudulent methods to avoid the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act and to receive billions of dollars from from US residents who gambled through the firms.

It accuses Mr Bitar of deceiving or directing others to deceive US banks and financial institutions into processing payments for Full Tilt Poker by arranging for payments to be disguised as transactions with non-existent online merchants and non-gambling firms.
 

rukus

Well-Known Member
#16
1357111317 said:
Incorrect rukus, If you have logged out recently, you have to download an update which doesnt allow US players to play for money. Stars hasnt allowed US players for over 24 hours now.
well there was 7 hours between your post and mine, so i wouldnt quite say mine was "incorrect" at the time i posted it. it may no longer be "Accurate" however.
 

Katweezel

Well-Known Member
#17
Aussie sings to save own neck

FBI informant Daniel Tzvetkoff. (Pic below)
Source Sydney Morning Herald

"AUSTRALIAN internet whiz Daniel Tzvetkoff, who has become a prized FBI informant in a bid to avoid a 75-year jail sentence in the US, may have brought down the multibillion-dollar American online poker industry.

The FBI announced on Friday that it had charged 11 people, including the founders of three of the largest internet poker companies in the US, with bank fraud, money laundering and illegal gambling offences. The poker sites PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker have been shut down.

It is believed Gold Coast entrepreneur Tzvetkoff's decision to turn super-grass and reveal the secret schemes used by poker companies to illegally launder billions of dollars via phony bank accounts and shell companies helped the FBI and New York prosecutors build their case.

''These defendants, knowing full well their business with US customers and US banks was illegal, tried to stack the deck,'' said FBI assistant director Janice Fedarcyk in announcing Friday's charges. ''They lied to banks about the true nature of their business.''

The internet gambling kingpins, including Isai Scheinberg and Paul Tate of PokerStars, Raymond Bitar and Nelson Burtnick of Full Tilt Poker and Scott Tom and Brent Beckley of Absolute Poker, face 30-year jail terms.

A year ago it was 28-year-old one-time Queensland high-flyer Tzvetkoff who faced the long stint in the US federal prison system for money laundering, bank fraud and other charges. US authorities arrested Tzvetkoff a year ago when he visited one of the top casinos on the Las Vegas strip, the Wynn, for a gambling conference.

Tzvetkoff was painted by prosecutors as the brains behind the creation of an illegal system for processing $US500 million in transactions between US gamblers and internet gaming websites.

He allegedly created shell companies with names unrelated to gambling to process the transactions.

US federal prosecutors vigorously fought to keep Tzvetkoff in jail, battling and eventually overturning a Las Vegas judge's decision to grant the Australian bail.

He was transferred to a New York jail and sat there until June when he was quietly released with his whereabouts unknown. ''He's turned the corner, seen the light and is co-operating,'' said former FBI agent Harold Copus."
 

Attachments

#18
This kid was the founder of Authorize.net.
He virtually invented the online credit card clearing gateway concept.
He was already on his way to prison for fraud.
The Boy Genius Who Just Took Down The Online Poker Industry

Last April, Tzvetkoff was arrested in Las Vegas and charged with the same crimes those sites' founders were charged with today: money laundering, bank fraud, wire fraud. As an Australian citizen with a lot of cash, he was considered a flight risk and denied bail. Then after a "secret" meeting with prosecutors last August, he was suddenly out on bail. And now his former colleagues are the ones facing serious prison time.

And the biggest irony of all? It's been rumored that the only reason the FBI got their hands on him is because Full Tilt and Poker Stars (the companies he used to work for and stole from) tipped off the FBI that he was going to be traveling to the United States last year. They ratted him out ... and he turned the tables.
I was following this because we have clients in the business like the one below. zg

Credit Card Proccessing Company
 
#19
The People that Own Full Tilt Poker
Source: GamblingSites.com

Full Tilt Poker is synonymous with Tiltware LLC.

Raymond Bitar = A Full Tilt Founder

Ray Bitar was an equities trader in Los Angeles, California where he met and traded for Chris Ferguson, a soon to be shareholder of Full Tilt Poker. Tiltware LLC is owned predominantly by the players that represent Full Tilt Poker with the following below having the most say in the company, here is there story.

Howard Lederer – A Full Tilt Founder

Howard Lederer, fondly known as the Professor of Poker for his analytical approach to the game of poker, is one of the leading players who helped found Full Tilt Poker. As a young college graduate, Lederer was hooked on chess and even made the move to New York to be closer to the active chess clubs in the city. It was actually in the back rooms of one of these clubs that Lederer stumbled on poker and the rest, as they say, is history.

Phil Ivey the Most Popular Founder

Phil Ivey is another poker player who helped turn the dream of Full Tilt Poker into a reality. Ivey is considered one of the most brilliant poker players of all times and has been named “The Tiger Woods of Poker” by his contemporaries.

Chris Ferguson – Said to Have the “Most Say”

Christopher Ferguson, nicknamed ‘Jesus’ because of his trademark long beard and hair, is another extremely talented poker player who helped launch Full Tilt Poker. With his Texas style hat and sunglasses, Ferguson is one of the most recognized faces on the poker circuit and cuts quite a foreboding figure at first glance. Yet Ferguson is known as a ‘nice guy’ with an incredible knack for poker, who has managed to make some of the highest cash ins in recent history.
 

shadroch

Well-Known Member
#20
MangoJ said:
The question boils down to: When playing poker online, exactly where does the gambling happen ? The physical location where all bets and cards happen is the location of the gaming server. But laws are different, especially in the age of internet.

Nothing illegal to fly to Malta (or whereever) and personally join a casino to play poker.
Is it illegal to call an agent (located in Malta) from the US, and ask him to place a bet ? Is it illegal to send the agent money in advance, and call him later to place a bet ? What if the agent is not a person, but a software ? And it is from the same company running the casino ?

For me all those questions are equivalent, and thus should be legal.
If there is a law declining money transaction to/from poker companies, how do you enforce it ? People could simply send checks per mail or cash per Western Union ...
You enforce it exactly the way the government is doing, but charging the major players with breaking the law. I'm not sure why that is so hard to comprehend.
What will get interesting is when their attorneys offer to give up the names of several million US residents that didn't pay any taxes. Will the government go after all the little fishies or just be happy to cut off the flow.
 
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