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.
According to a letter faxed to Alliance Bank of Arizona and signed by Arlo Devlin-Brown, assistant US attorney for the Southern District of New York on Friday, 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 the Poker Players Alliance, a grassroots advocacy group, highlighted the fact that 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 US Attorney for the Southern District of New York has declined the opportunity to comment.
Stay tuned to eGaming Review and the Poker Players Alliance for more information on this and other breaking poker and casino gambling news stories.
For some background on the UIGEA bill, check out this APCW.org – Poker Prohibition Video
