It looks as though the chips are down for four online poker rooms that continued to trade in the US after the passing of the UIGEA bill by US congress in 2006 according to a report by Stephen Carter for eGaming Review.
According to the article, 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. It appears that this government action took place over the weekend in response to the news that 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 informed players that all failed withdrawals using the two frozen payment processors had 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.