On Friday, the office of the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, along with the Federal Bureau of Investigations, announced the domain seizures of three major online poker sites.
PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, and Absolute Poker have all had charges of bank fraud, illegal gambling offenses and money laundering charges filed against them.
This is big news for the world of mixed martial arts as poker sites, most notably Full Tilt Poker, were major sponsors of MMA events and fighters. Full Tilt Poker has sponsored Strikeforce fighters and events. The company had sponsored fighters in the UFC before but were placed on the ban list by Zuffa a couple of years ago.
Many fighters rely on sponsorship money from companies like these to help subsidize their income to allow them to train. This should come as a heavy blow to many up and coming fighters, such as Dhiego Lima, who we interviewed yesterday, and receives sponsorship money from Full Tilt Poker.
From the release from the US Attorney’s office:
Manhattan U.S. Attorney PREET BHARARA said: “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. 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.”
FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge JANICE K. FEDARCYK said: “These defendants, knowing full well that their business with U.S. customers and U.S. banks was illegal, tried to stack the deck. They lied to banks about the true nature of their business. Then, some of the defendants found banks willing to flout the law for a fee. The defendants bet the house that they could continue their scheme, and they lost.”
A total of eleven defendents were named with nine charges laid out. The most serious charge, ‘Conspiracty to Commit Bank Fraud and Wire Fraud’ comes with a maximum sentence of ‘30 years in prison; fine of $1,000,000 or twice the gross gain or loss; 5years supervisedrelease; forfeiture of proceeds of offense’.