APNewsBreak: Group says poker winnings are frozen

[emo388]

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/APNew...JklRnW7YWsA?sec=topStories&pos=4&asset=&ccode

WASHINGTON (AP) -- An advocacy group for online poker said Tuesday that the federal government has frozen more than $30 million in the accounts of payment processors that handle the winnings of thousands of online poker players.


The Justice Department has long maintained that Internet gambling is illegal, a view that the poker group challenges.
The Poker Players Alliance told The Associated Press that the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York instructed three banks to freeze the accounts.


Documents obtained by the AP show that a judge in the district issued a seizure warrant last week for an account at a Wells Fargo bank in San Francisco, and that a federal prosecutor told a bank in Arizona to freeze an account.


In a letter dated Friday and faxed to Alliance Bank of Arizona, the prosecutor said that accounts held by payment processor Allied Systems Inc. are subject to seizure and forfeiture "because they constitute property involved in money laundering transactions and illegal gambling offenses." The letter was signed by Arlo Devlin-Brown, the assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.


In another letter faxed the same day, Devlin-Brown asks that the bank treat the funds "as legally seized" by the FBI, saying that the government has probable cause that the gambling payments of U.S. residents had been directed to offshore illegal Internet gambling businesses.
A spokeswoman at the Southern District declined to comment.


John Pappas, executive director of the Poker Players Alliance, called the government's move an "unprecedented action" against online poker players.
In a letter Monday night to Devlin-Brown, Pappas said that the funds belong to the alliance's members, and requested that his group be notified and given the opportunity to be heard regarding attempts to seize the frozen funds.


"The PPA will pursue every legal course available to ensure that poker players' funds are not seized and their right to play poker online is protected," he wrote.

hno:

 

[patswin]

here we go again, i thought things were supposed to get better with obama in office, i guess not

 

[maxdemo]

wow...now going after Poker

 

[WorldNumberOne]

a buddy of mine told me yesterday that he is getting emails from poker stars saying that some of their bank accounts have been frozen and that it may take a while to process payouts.

 

[Defying]

not good!

 

[red007]

fucking feds got nothing better to do?
bastards

 

[SayHeyKid]

Our government has flat out been hijacked by criminals. And they tell the public they need more power to spy on the general public to protect us from "terror attacks".

They are the true terrorists.

 

[red007]

well someone has to pay for the stimulus package.
why not poker players

 

[ProPokerPlayer]

Actually this is Stars and Full Tilts funds that have been STOLEN.....The players monies are in their accounts although for the time being they may have limited access..
They busted their E-Check processor.....

 

[valium]

Our government has flat out been hijacked by criminals. And they tell the public they need more power to spy on the general public to protect us from "terror attacks".

They are the true terrorists.

i could not have said it better myself. All in the name to protect the citizens. What a joke.

 

[festeringZit]

This is what Absolute Poker said when I inquired today:



Dear Mr. xxxxx,

Thank you for contacting us.

Thank you for contacting us regarding the news article posted recently about the freezing of bank accounts that affected several online poker sites, including ours.

This issue was brought to our immediate attention last week. We would like you to know that all players affected by this action were notified via email that the funds they withdrew from these accounts were placed back into their poker accounts. For the players inconvenienced by this unfortunate matter, we also included fees and bonuses along with the funds.

You can also request a withdrawal via check or any other available method in our game cashier and it will be processed as usual.

Rest assured, your funds are safe and secure. Please note that at this time, we are no longer using the services of the companies mentioned in the article. To better serve you and keep your confidence, we offer all our customers payouts through many other outlets, including checks and echecks.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if there is anything else we can do for you.

Best regards,

Liam
Customer Support Department
AbsolutePoker.com</pre>

 

[par88]

The timing of this seizure is awfully suspicious given that Barney Frank's bill to repeal the online gambling ban is starting to make its way thru congress about now:

http://www.informationweek.com/news/government/policy/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=217800632

I doubt the bureaucrats in DC came up with this money seizure idea on their own... my guess is there's some right-wing christian conservative lobby (same assholes that got George Bush elected in 2004) who pushed the Justice Dept into doing this. They might be making some perverted effort to get publicity and defeat Frank's bill.

 

[PatPatriot]

What the fuck did you guys expect from electing Obama and his bolsheviks? Something free?They will by force and confiscate anything they can get their hands on and redistribute or keep for themselves anything that ISN'T theirs...thats the change you can count on.
What i get a kick out of everyone likes something for nothing except when they wake the fuck up and finaly realise they are the stupid bastards and they that are not the ones reciveing the "free" shit,They are the ones paying for the "free" shit...lol.Welcome to the Obama Russian revolution 1917.

Guess where unemployment isn't down?...At the IRS.Obama admin. hired on about another 1000 agents just to check out offshore accounts and other private treasures that YOU WILL share.

...and some of you fuckin jomokos were worrying about bush listening to known terroist phone calls...lmao

 

[wolfie_cr]

...and some of you fuckin jomokos were worrying about bush listening to known terroist phone calls...lmao

actually to refresh your memory, people got concerned with abuse of power by the goverment with the excuse of 'terrorism'

you remember that the UIGEA was sneaked in the safe port act right signed by the President that you just mentioned

besides these funds 'could' end up in terrorist hands

it seems the fuckin jomokos are proven (yet once again) correct

I would have liked to see what the reaction would have been if ANYONE dared to question the 'safe port act' ......you know........stuff like 'these damn liberals.......always trying to undermine America.......they don't allow us to fight the terrorists!'

 

[carlspackler]

You ain't seen nothing yet. Just wait till Tsar Obama goes after peoples 401ks and IRAs. You can only tax the populous so much then you must go after the individuals wealth. When you elect a Socialist you get Socialism. Duh!

 

[HarryCaray]

To the politics forum...

 

[Sammy439]

The timing of this seizure is awfully suspicious given that Barney Frank's bill to repeal the online gambling ban is starting to make its way thru congress about now:

http://www.informationweek.com/news/government/policy/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=217800632

I doubt the bureaucrats in DC came up with this money seizure idea on their own... my guess is there's some right-wing christian conservative lobby (same assholes that got George Bush elected in 2004) who pushed the Justice Dept into doing this. They might be making some perverted effort to get publicity and defeat Frank's bill.

Is the Justice Department subject to lobbying? I don't think so, they simply enforce the laws on the books. The politicians who make the laws are the only ones that lobbyists can get to. The right wing Christian conservatives have gambling as about number 126,098 on their to do list anyway. They could care less about gambling. There are 1 or 2 in congress who have taken contributions from land casinos so they are against online gambling. This has nothing to do with the average christian conservatives view on gambling. Half the gamblers are Christian conservatives. The south is one of the biggest gambling areas of the nation. Poker was started in the south.

Zit, are you aware that absolute poker was caught using house players? Surely you are not still playing there with this knowledge.

Last thing, why on earth these places leave funds in US banks is beyond me.