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Where's Manny?
http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=7808131
Feds Freeze Poker Champ's Winnings
Federal Officials Order Banks to Freeze Millions in Online Poker Winnings
By RUSSELL GOLDMAN
June 11, 2009—
On the Sunday before Memorial Day, David made the big time.
Winning $10,000 in an online poker tournament made him eligible for the upcoming World Series of Poker, the game's premier event, where hundreds of players -- amateur and professional -- descend on Las Vegas from around the world to play for a multimillion-dollar pot.
To register, he simply had to cash a check cut by a company that processed payments for the poker Web site Pokerstars.com and use the $10,000 to buy into the series.
When he went to cash the check from Account Services Wednesday, it bounced, he said.
What David, a 41-year-old from Virginia who spoke on the condition that ABC News use only his first name, initially thought was a glitch turned out to be part of an unprecedented government crackdown on online poker that affected some 27,000 people.
Late last week, the federal government ordered five banks to freeze a total of $30 million in payments owed to the players from companies that process payments from two offshore gambling sites, according to the Poker Players Alliance, a group that represents the interests of the companies and players.
"It's not like the government went after money that the site made, instead they seized money that belonged to me," David said. "There is no law that restricts citizens from recovering money."
According to the alliance, federal prosecutors working out of New York's Southern District ordered Citibank, Wells Fargo and three smaller banks to freeze funds in accounts belonging to Allied Systems and Account Services, companies that process funds for the poker sites.
Some affected players who gamble at the popular sites FullTiltPoker.com and PokerStars.com first realized they could not access funds in their accounts over the weekend when checks issued from the companies bounced.
Online poker, a $9 billion to $12 billion a year industry, is legally a gray area, experts told ABCNews.com. Washington is the only state with a law on its books that bans residents from playing on the Internet. The sites themselves, however, are not allowed to operate in the United States and are all registered overseas.
Online Poker Players Alliance Criticizes Freezing of Accounts
"There is no legal precedent for what the government is doing," said John Pappas, executive director of the alliance.
"We contend playing online poker is not unlawful. The government is going after the players' money, not the sites'. The fact is, there is no federal law against playing online poker," he said.
Though the government maintains that online gambling is illegal, the U.S. attorney's office in New York would not comment on the case or confirm an investigation was under way.
According to federal do ents obtained by The Associated Press, a judge in the Southern District of New York issued a seizure warrant last week for an account at a Wells Fargo bank in San Francisco. The AP reported that the do ents also showed 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, Arlo Devlin-Brown, the assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York said that accounts held by payment processor Allied Systems Inc. are subject to seizure and forfeiture "because they cons ute property involved in money laundering transactions and illegal gambling offenses," according to the AP.
In another letter, 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, the AP reported.
A source at Citgroup familiar with the government request, however, confirmed the "bank has been contacted and is cooperating" with the authorities.
According to the alliance, the laws cited by prosecutors "appear to allege violations of the Wire Act and the Illegal Gambling Business Act" and not to a more recent piece of legislation on online gaming called the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act.
Another player, Sam Friedman, a 24-year-old accountant in New York City who plays every night in tournaments on FullTiltPoker.com, said he realized the company had last week removed an option to deposit winnings directly into his Citibank account.
Internet Poker Players Say Feds Are 'Reaching Into People's Bank Accounts'
"There are lots of ways to deposit and withdraw money and payment options are always disappearing, but something didn't seem right," Friedman said.
"I can't believe the government is reaching into people's bank accounts like this," he said. "For a lot of serious players this is their lifeblood. This is how they make ends meet."
Both FullTiltPoker.com and PokerStars.com have reimbursed players who tried to cash out and were unable to.
"In light of recent events involving the freezing of certain accounts, Full Tilt Poker would like to assure all players that their funds remain safe and secure," spokeswoman Mic e Clayborn said in a statement.
"All players who were affected by the current situation have had their funds returned to their accounts," the statement said. David, the World Series hopeful, said he had been reimbursed by PokerStars and given an additional 10 percent credit.
He used his own savings to buy into the World Series and will use the winnings from his championship game online to pay himself back as soon as he gets them, he said.
Where's Manny?
Trying to cash a check so he can give the pizza delivery guy a tip.
this makes me so mad.
Doubt it sticks... but the funds are gone for now...
Pokerstars and Full Tilt have already supplied new funds and a 10% bonus for the inconvenience...
I def agree. For multiple reasons. Main one being I think the govt has more to worry about right now than stealing money from people who earned it. Way to waste more govt dollars!
Good for them. They must feel confident in recouping the money for the govt.
Can you sue the govt for your money or since its federal and Im sure under investigation or whatever theres nothing you can do? All though I guess it doesnt matter if the poker site has already given you money again.
But what allows the second check to go through?
Can't speak for the smaller banks, bit Citibank and Wells Fargo both took TARP money.... ...the Feds OWN Citibank...they can't tell the feds to off now when they want to violate the rights of their customers...According to the alliance, federal prosecutors working out of New York's Southern District ordered Citibank, Wells Fargo and three smaller banks to freeze funds in accounts belonging to Allied Systems and Account Services, companies that process funds for the poker sites.
they are coming up with new ways to lower the deficit.
They have my money.
lets take money away from our own citizens who for the most part have other jobs and pay taxes. way to go government
lets take money away from our own citizens who for the most part have other jobs and pay taxes. way to go government
You can thank Bill Frist, George Bush, and the Republican right for their ty laws - I doubt many citizens lose their money though. It mainly screws over the processors. I expect to get a full reimbursement from Full Tilt and then some money on top of that for associated delays and what not. This happens every few months (if that long) now. It sucks ass but you tend to deal with it.
Barney Frank is resubmitting a bill that repeals UIEGA in the near future I beleive.
The bill would have past last year if not for the economy tanking and it being pushed way down on the agenda. Its just not a huge priority considering everything else they are working on, but I'm fairly confident we'll see UIGEA repealed in the relatively near future considering who controls Congress and the White House.
Ahh life is good in Vegas where I can cash out with no worries.
LOL
should have known Manny would blame it on Bush.
Who pushed for the law? Bill Frist
Who was he supported by? The Evangelical Right
Who signed the law? George W. Bush
The real question is why would I blame other than those directly responsible?
Obama hasn't had a damn bit of problem unwinding all the "old" policies. He is directly in charge of the Attorney General and the US Attorneys. If he didn't want the money seized, it wouldn't have been seized. Get real, Manny. Bush is gone. You can't keep blaming him for everything you don't like.
Yup..... Trying to raise money without pissing off the majority of the people. Smokers and gamblers...noone feels the love for them. CRAZY!
If you can afford to gamble, you should have considered it possible lost anyway.lets take money away from our own citizens who for the most part have other jobs and pay taxes. way to go government
I personally think people should be stupid enough to participate in on-line gambling if they want. Without sitting at the same table, how can you be certain there is no cheating going on? They will allow some winners, but overall, it would be too easy to cheat the odds, and those running the places can really bank out.
I can when its HIS law. Its a republican law. Obama didn't walk in and replace everyone Bush put in power through 8 years either. Obama isn't micromanaging about poker winnings when he has real issues to worry about it.
If they don't overturn then they'll receive my scorn also, but this is directly the result of the actions of Bill Frist, George Bush, and other Republicans.
That's fine... but if these things were legal... they could be taxed.. regulated and punished (more punitively than just the players leaving a dishonest site) for wrongdoing.
I am a conservative... but gambling (especially online poker) should be legal and taxed. Drugs should be legal and taxed.
Those are FISCALLY conservative views... just not morally conservative ones.
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