Feds charge Top online poker companies and seize domains

In recent news, Federal Authorities in New York have released an indictment this Friday against 11 defendants related to three largest online poker companies operating in the U.S.

According to federal authorities in New York, the indictment charges 11 defendants, including the founders of PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, and the Cereus Network sites (Absolute and UB.com) for violating U.S. anti-Internet gambling laws. Charges listed in the indictment issued by a Manhattan court today (April 15) range from bank fraud, money laundering, to illegal gambling offenses.

Defendants include Raymond Bitar and Nelson Burtnick of Full Tilt Poker; Isai Scheinberg and Paul Tate of PokerStars; and Scott Tom and Brent Beckley of Absolute Poker. The indictment alleges the after mentioned companies tricked banks into processing billions of dollars in illegal gambling deposits and payments. Additionally, authorities issued restraining orders for 75 bank accounts used by the online poker sites and their payment processors, issued a civil money laundering complaint for $3 billion against the poker companies, their assets and the assets of several payment processors, and seized the internet domain names used by the companies.

At the moment of this publication, representatives for the companies have not made any comments regarding the charges.