The U.S. Department of Justice has charged the founders of online poker sites PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker with fraud and conspiracy in an idictment unsealed Friday morning.
The indictment includes Isai Scheinberg and Paul Tate from PokerStars, Ray Bitar and Nelson Burtnick from Full Tilt, Scott Tom and Brent Beckley of AbsolutePoker. Also charged were Ryan Lang, John Campos, Bradley Franzen, Ira Rubin and Chad Elie who are believed to be working for payment processors. Campos and Elie were arrested Friday morning in Las Vegas and Utah. The DOJ is working with Interpol to secure the arrest of the other defendants.
A total of five domain names, including UB.com, PokerStars.com, FullTiltPoker.com, have been seized by the DOJ. Restraining orders were also issued for 75 bank accounts used by the poker sites and payment processors.
“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 inillegal gambling profits,” said Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara. “Moreover, as we allege, in their zeal to circumvent the gambling laws, the defendants also engaged in massive money laundering and bank fraud. Foreign firms that choose to operate in the United States are not free to flout the laws they don’t like simply because they can’t bear to be parted from their profits.”
The indcitment alleges that the poker companies worked with payment processors to fool U.S. banks into processing payments to and from players. All 11 defendants have been charged with Conspiracy to Violate Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act which has a maximum sentence of five years in prison, a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross amount won or lost and three years supervised release.
The founders of the three poker sites have been charged with Violation of Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act , which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross amount won or lost and three years supervised release, and Operation of Illegal Gambling Business, which also carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross amount won or lost and three years supervised release plus the forfeiture of proceeds of offense.
The other charges are Conspiracy to Commit Bank Fraud and Wire Fraud and Money Laundering Conspiracy.
The DOJ is seeking $3 billion in penalties from the companies.
PokerStars has since prevented U.S. based players from accessing any cash games or tournaments on their site.
Showing posts with label Absolute Poker. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Absolute Poker. Show all posts
April 15, 2011
August 27, 2010
Tokwiro sells Absolute Poker & UB
he Cereus online poker network, formed by Absolute Poker and UltimateBet in 2008, has been sold to Antigua based Blanca Games for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition includes the Cereus network, operating software and the AbsolutePoker and UB brands.
Blanca Games is headed by Stuart Gordon, founder and operator of online bingo site bingomania.
Commenting on the acquisition, Gordon stated that security will continue to be a key area of focus for the network going forward. Both Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet have in the past been mired in cheating and security scandals.
“The acquisition of Cereus is a significant opportunity for us,” says Blanca Games CEO Stuart Gordon. “Cereus is a major platform of well-managed assets. Over the past few years, it has created new brands, like ub.com, that are extremely well-positioned in the most desirable demographic in our market: players in the 20s and 30s age brackets. From our perspective, we have acquired a large, sophisticated online gaming operation with state-of-the art capabilities, ranging from compliance to business intelligence to online marketing to customer service. We see a tremendous growth opportunity in this deal and beyond, as Blanca seeks additional acquisitions in the market.
“We intend to leverage the existing strengths of the Cereus Poker Network, particularly in the areas of security and customer service. Although we are impressed with many of the new security features on the Network today, security is and will remain our top priority.”
Cereus is the third largest US facing online poker network according to PokerScout.com, behind PokerStars and Full Tilt, albeit with a fraction of their liquidity.
The network’s former owner, Tokwiro, is yet to comment on the sale, although a statement is expected to be released next week.
Blanca Games is headed by Stuart Gordon, founder and operator of online bingo site bingomania.
Commenting on the acquisition, Gordon stated that security will continue to be a key area of focus for the network going forward. Both Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet have in the past been mired in cheating and security scandals.
“The acquisition of Cereus is a significant opportunity for us,” says Blanca Games CEO Stuart Gordon. “Cereus is a major platform of well-managed assets. Over the past few years, it has created new brands, like ub.com, that are extremely well-positioned in the most desirable demographic in our market: players in the 20s and 30s age brackets. From our perspective, we have acquired a large, sophisticated online gaming operation with state-of-the art capabilities, ranging from compliance to business intelligence to online marketing to customer service. We see a tremendous growth opportunity in this deal and beyond, as Blanca seeks additional acquisitions in the market.
“We intend to leverage the existing strengths of the Cereus Poker Network, particularly in the areas of security and customer service. Although we are impressed with many of the new security features on the Network today, security is and will remain our top priority.”
Cereus is the third largest US facing online poker network according to PokerScout.com, behind PokerStars and Full Tilt, albeit with a fraction of their liquidity.
The network’s former owner, Tokwiro, is yet to comment on the sale, although a statement is expected to be released next week.
November 29, 2007
Boris Becker will be the new face of PokerStars
Tennis legend Boris Becker will be the new face of PokerStars. The three times grand slam event winner will represent the poker site during live events and online tournaments and will star in a new TV advertising campaign for the company. Becker will take part in a training programme to improve his poker skills and will then compete in PokerStars’ European Poker Tour events in Dortmund in late January and Monte Carlo in April next year. Tamar Yaniv, director of marketing EMEA at PokerStars, said: “Boris Becker is a world-class sportsman who became famous for his competitive spirit and aggressive, entertaining playing style, so we’re delighted that he has become an ambassador for PokerStars.”
November 09, 2007
Absolute Poker admits 40 days of ‘unfair playing’, pays back US$1.6m
Absolute Poker has admitted that the perpetrator of the so-called ‘pot-ripper’ scandal won US$800,000 during a “known period of unfair playing” amounting to 40 days. According to an interim statement released while the Kahnawake Gaming Commission is still completing its enquiry into the ‘pot-ripper’ scandal, the company said it has paid back players known to have been adversely affected by what it calls the “security breach” to the tune of US$1.6m.
In the statement, Absolute adds that it is cooperating fully with the KGC in its enquiry. It adds: “We would like to assure our players, once again, that the security breach, which resulted in unfair play, was resolved immediately after it was discovered and confirmed, and Absolute’s sites are absolutely secure.” (sic)
It said the “known perpetrator... no longer has access to Absolute”. “The system breach was the result of a recent internal software release impacting internal reporting. The breach was exploitable only by an authorised AP person that manipulated the internal reporting software, together with the AP gaming software. The security breach was not, therefore, the result of an external action, and no individual outside AP could exploit the breach.”
The statement added that there is no evidence of the past or current existence of a “super-user” account with the ability to see other players’ hole cards.
The statement concludes: “AP regrets the damage that has been done to its players and to its own reputation by this incident. We are absolutely focused on doing the right thing for our loyal customers, employees, consultants and business partners and we will continue to work with the KGC and Gaming Associates to bring this incident into the full light of day and to right any wrongs done to innocent victims of this unfair play.”
In the statement, Absolute adds that it is cooperating fully with the KGC in its enquiry. It adds: “We would like to assure our players, once again, that the security breach, which resulted in unfair play, was resolved immediately after it was discovered and confirmed, and Absolute’s sites are absolutely secure.” (sic)
It said the “known perpetrator... no longer has access to Absolute”. “The system breach was the result of a recent internal software release impacting internal reporting. The breach was exploitable only by an authorised AP person that manipulated the internal reporting software, together with the AP gaming software. The security breach was not, therefore, the result of an external action, and no individual outside AP could exploit the breach.”
The statement added that there is no evidence of the past or current existence of a “super-user” account with the ability to see other players’ hole cards.
The statement concludes: “AP regrets the damage that has been done to its players and to its own reputation by this incident. We are absolutely focused on doing the right thing for our loyal customers, employees, consultants and business partners and we will continue to work with the KGC and Gaming Associates to bring this incident into the full light of day and to right any wrongs done to innocent victims of this unfair play.”
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