Federal Indictments Shutdown Poker Stars, Full Tilt In United States
April 15th, 2011 – by Glen
As of approximately 1 P.M. ET on April 15th, the three largest poker networks accepting real money deposits from American gamblers have been attacked by the United States Department of Justice. According to a press release issued by the DoJ, the FBI has announced indictments against eleven defendants – and this includes the founders of PokerStars, Full Tilt, and Absolute Poker.
Initially, the sites themselves had been confiscated. While many players may still see the main home pages of these poker rooms’ websites, most players cannot. Many users will have to wait until their Internet Service Provider updates the DNS of each site.
Isai Scheinberg and Paul Tate of PokerStars, Raymond Bitar and Nelson Burtnick of Full Tilt, as well as Scott Tom and Brent Beckley of Absolute Poker have all been indicted.
Ryan Lang, Ira Rubin, John Campos, Bradley Franzen and Chad Elie, purported online gambling payment processors, have also been indicted. Campos and Elie have both been arrested.
The Department of Justice has not stopped with just taking the websites. They have gone on to also force players from sitting down at the tables. Several players from the United States have shown on the 2+2 Forums that they cannot actually sit down at real money tables at PokerStars. New accounts are also reportedly unable to be created.
One thing that players have reported, however, is that they are capable of cashing in their winnings. How long this will last is unknown, so players are urged to retrieve their money as soon as possible.
With this news coming down, players at these sites will have to find alternative locations for their gaming. Bodog Poker is one example of where players can turn in order to continue playing online poker. At this time, Bodog has not yet been targeted by the Department of Justice.
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Just found this out and can not withdraw my money! WTF!
There are going to be a lot of pissed off people.
I just cashed out. Hope I get a check
Yeah I just cashed out too. I’d act swiftly if you wanna see your $$$
I was able to cash out and spend my fpp’s, we will see next week if I actually get my money. PS I hear BODOG Poker is shady!