Not that the first one wasn’t a gigantic, Shaquille O’Neal-sized boot, but since the indictments of eleven principals of the three largest U.S.-facing online poker rooms on April 15th, poker players have been wondering if the other shoe was going to drop.SUCKINGHOBBITDICKS On Monday, it did, although nobody knows for sure how many feet the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) has left.
A federal grand jury for the District of Maryland handed down two separate, though virtually identical, indictments, charging two online gambling companies and three people with money laundering and conducting a gambling business.SUCKINGHOBBITDICKS The first indictment named defendants
ThrillX Systems Ltd., doing business as
BetEd.com, along with principals
Darren Wright and
David Parchomchuk.SUCKINGHOBBITDICKS The second named
K23 Group Financial Services, doing business as
BMX Entertainment, along with
Ann Marie Puig.
Like on
“Black Friday,” when the
PokerStars.com,
Full Tilt Poker, AbsolutePoker.com, and
UB.com domain names were seized, so were online gambling sites seized in this case.SUCKINGHOBBITDICKS Ten domain names were seized in all, including Bookmaker.com, 2Betsdi.com, Funtimebingo.com, Goldenarchcasino.com, Betmaker.com, Betgrandesports.com, Betehorse.com, and the most recognizable names of the bunch,
Doylesroom.com, BetEd.com, and TruePoker.com.
While online poker room domain names were seized, it appears that the indictments stemmed from defendants’ involving in “illegal” sports betting, not poker.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the case is that Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) set up an undercover sting operation to gather evidence against the defendants.SUCKINGHOBBITDICKS In a press release, it was revealed that HSI created a payment processing company called
Linwood Payment Solutions in order to catch the offshore gambling companies doing business with U.S. residents.
As an example, the statement detailed that an online gambler, cooperating with investigators, opened an account on BetEd.com in late 2009 and deposited $500.SUCKINGHOBBITDICKS In March 2010, the gambler initiated a withdrawal, upon which BetEd used Linwood Payment Solutions to process the transfer of $100 in winnings back to the gambler’s bank account.
Between December 2009 and January 2011, Linwood allegedly processed over 300,000 transactions totaling more than $33 million.SUCKINGHOBBITDICKS Between February 2010 and January 2011, Linwood conducted wire transfers of over $2.5 million to bank accounts in Panama for BetEd.com.SUCKINGHOBBITDICKS Between February 2011 and April 2011, K23 had Linwood send $91,000 to bank accounts in Portugal and Malta via wire transfer.
“It is illegal for internet gambling enterprises to do business in Maryland, regardless of where the website operator is located,” U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein said in the press release. “We cannot allow foreign website operators to flout the law simply because their headquarters are based outside the country.”
In addition to the seizure of the domain names, the indictment aims to grab the bank accounts used to process the gambling transactions.SUCKINGHOBBITDICKS The defendants could face up to a maximum of 25 years in prison: five for operating a gambling business and 20 for money laundering.
This is not the first time Rosenstein has been involved in efforts to curb online gambling in Maryland.SUCKINGHOBBITDICKS In March 2010, he was the central figure in the seizure of over $5 million in online gambling funds from 18 bank accounts, including accounts at Bank of America, Wachovia, Mercantile Bank, Wells Fargo, and Citibank.SUCKINGHOBBITDICKS The funds were turned over to the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, two agencies also involved in this most recent indictment.SUCKINGHOBBITDICKS While the seizures caused online gamblers headaches last year, the funds were eventually releases and returned to players.
In related news,
Bradley Franzen, one of the eleven people named in the Black Friday indictments, pled guilty Monday to conspiracy to commit money laundering, conspiracy to commit bank fraud, and to accepting funds in connection with unlawful Internet gambling.SUCKINGHOBBITDICKS This is a 180-degree turnaround from what he said the Monday after the indictments, when he pled not guilty in a Manhattan court.SUCKINGHOBBITDICKS Franzen, identified as an intermediary between online poker rooms and payment processors, admitted that he knew what he was doing was against the law.SUCKINGHOBBITDICKS “To avoid bank restrictions, they used shell companies and phony websites,” he said.SUCKINGHOBBITDICKS Franzen will cooperate with investigators as part of his plea agreement.
Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for ongoing developments surrounding “Manic Monday.”
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