Reaction to Online Poker Scandal

Consequences can be felt... already After the indictments of the Internet's biggest online poker operators, one of the federal initiatives that followed this development immediately was a civil lawsuit seeking $3 billion in money laundering penalties claiming that the online poker companies disguised the money they had received from U.S. players as payments to online merchants selling jewelry and golf balls. Following the actions on Friday, the federal authorities in Utah and Las Vegas arrested 31 years old payment processor Chad Elie, and 57 years old John Campos, who is a part owner of a small bank. Bradley Franzen, another payment processor will be interrogated in Manhattan next week. Others named in the indictment are outside the States and are beyond the reach of the U.S. law. Some legal experts have observed that this initiative has to do more with financial and banking wrongdoing rather than legality issues around internet poker. However, more developments emerged in the industry as a result of the indictments. Wynn Resorts already distanced itself from Pokerstars, who is listed in the federal indictments, and its spokesman, Michael Weaver was quick to announce that the proposed internet venture inked with Pokerstars not two weeks ago, is off. According to the deal built upon federal legality, it should have resulted in an alliance that would become a major internet poker operator in the United States. Since another partnership between Full Tilt and Fertitta Interactive, whose owners were linked to Station Casinos, also came under the scrutiny, Fertitta spokesperson Caren Bell repeated that the cooperation with Full Tilt was, also, only based on federal legalization. On one side, the US Attorney for Manhattan, Preet Bharara commented, "As charged, these defendants concocted an elaborate criminal fraud scheme, alternately tricking some U.S. banks and effectively bribing others to assure the continued flow of billions in illegal gambling profits. Moreover, as we allege, in their zeal to circumvent the gambling laws, the defendants also engaged in massive money laundering and bank fraud". On the other, a chairman of the Poker Players Alliance and former Senator Alfonse D'Amato assured the public, “On behalf of the millions of poker players across the country, we are shocked at the action taken by the U.S. Department of Justice today against online poker companies and will continue to fight for Americans' right to participate in the game they enjoy. Online poker is not a crime and should not be treated as such. We are currently gathering all of the information around today's announcement and will offer detailed analysis when the full facts become available.” One of the big companies that have already gave a comment on this matter is Full Tilt Poker which explained, "In light of recent events involving the freezing of certain accounts, Full Tilt Poker would like to assure all players that their funds remain safe and secure. Processing of both deposit and withdrawal requests is proceeding as normal and is still available to all of our players. All players who were affected by the current situation have had their funds returned to their accounts and all new withdrawal requests are processing normally. We assure all players on Full Tilt Poker that your online playing experience will not change and that you will be able to both deposit and withdraw funds as needed. Your money remains safe, secure and accessible at all times. Full Tilt Poker remains committed to the protection of our players' security and legal rights, and will continue to provide the best and safest online poker room available worldwide." Meanwhile, it's been reported by players that Pokerstars website now reroutes to a page redolent with seals and warnings by Department of Justice. How this whole issue is to end, it remains to be seen.