Pokerstars Shut Down & Full Tilt Poker Shut Down by the FBI

Earthquake in the Poker World - PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker Shut Down by FBI

The online poker world has just experienced a massive earthquake that will shake this industry to its core. Four websites of the largest companies: PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, Absolute Poker and UB have been shut down and seized by the F.B.I on charges of bank fraud, money laundering and illegal gambling offenses. Charges against them are up to $3billion.

Millions of online poker players have been affected by the PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker shut down, whose websites display an FBI notice. US Players have been blocked from playing for real money at both PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker. However, non-US players can continue to play.

While the announcement has left the poker world reeling in shock, it would appear that there have been some decidedly shady dealings occurring which have resulted in the charges.

Preet Bharara, United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, along with Janice Fedarcyk, Assistant-Director-in-Charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, unsealed an indictment charging the founders and payment processors of the above poker sites with a variety of offenses.

There is also a civil complaint against the above poker companies, their payment processors, five internet domains, as well as 75 bank accounts used by the poker companies and their payment processors.

Online poker’s status has long been a gray area in the US – something that many poker companies capitalized on by exploiting loopholes in the system. However, it would appear those loopholes are now well and truly closed.

So far there have been two arrests: Chad Elie (31) who is a payment processor for PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker that shut down to US players was arrested in Las Vegas, Nevada; and John Campos (57) who is the vice chairman of the board and part owner of SunFirst Bank. Campos was arrested in Utah.

Allegedly, Campos illegally processed payments from poker companies in return for a personal payoff and investment in the bank. Elie is believed to have set-up the transaction, along with similar transactions with other banks. Payment processors like Elie have also been accused of setting up dummy companies and generating fraudulent transactions to disguise poker company payments from banks.

US Attorney Bharara made a statement in which she announced that US Banks have been “tricked” or “bribed” into channeling payments and profits to online poker companies in breach of US laws.

According to Australia’s Courier-Mail, there may yet be another sting in the tail of this woeful story. The Australian publication alleges that Daniel Tzvetkoff, a former payment processor, may have assisted the US government in their historic takedown. Allegedly, he used to operate payments for large gambling sites, making a fortune doing so. But apparently he got greedy and ripped off the gambling companies for $100 million.

Having fallen out of favor, Tzvetkoff made the mistake of traveling to the US. The FBI received an “anonymous” tip off on Tzvetkoff’s location and he was arrested. Because of his wealth he was considered a flight risk and denied bail. Now, mysteriously, he is out on bail and the gambling companies are the ones in the dock.

Coincidence? Perhaps not. But it could mean that Tzvetkoff could become the most hated man in poker. After the US government that is…

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Although Full Tilt Poker shut down and PokerStars shut down access to US players, there are lots of US poker sites still accepting US players - as recommended by Cardschat.

Full discussion of the Full Tilt Poker & PokerStars shut down: http://www.cardschat.com/f13/fbi-sei...ftp-ps-196120/

Doyles Room, True Poker & Bookmaker.com shut down: True Poker, Doyles Room and Bookmaker.com Domain Names Seized -- Still Operational

PokerStars US Players | Full Tilt Poker US Players

FAQ about PokerStars / Full Tilt & US Players

tks for the post Nick.

Thanks Nick!

I feel sick to my stomach...

On topic, this sucks even for people outside the US. Lets just wait and see what happens.

Interesting developments
So there were some shady deals going on behind the scenes?

so what happens to our bankroll on PS I wonder....thanks for the update on the crazyness

Dude has a horrible mullet and looks like a douche.

Slave as defined by http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/slave...
1: a person held in servitude as the chattel of another
2: one that is completely subservient to a dominating influence
3: a device (as the printer of a computer) that is directly responsive to another


Modern Slave as defined by this author…
1: a member of a group with the false impression of freedom held in servitude;
2: a person obligated to obey rules and regulations set forth by a small entity without regard for public safety or the group as a whole, instead motivated by pure greed, financial gain and/or power.


The online gambling laws are certainly issues, we Americans, have had valid objections to. Up until now most of us, myself included, have buried our heads in the sand. Other nationalities are watching these turns of events and probably wondering what’s going on. The majority of other nationalities are unaware why Americans are so proud and insist on freedom above all. In fact if we compare what we learned in second grade about the birth of our county to today it’s quite shocking. So here is a brief synopsis…

What would you do if one of the large banks tried to eliminate your currency and replace it with their own? Not only replace it but charge you interest for using it. The same thing happened a long time ago. Once upon a time there once was a rich and powerful man that controlled everything, the King of England. He decided to prohibit citizens from issuing their own currency. Instead he wanted his bank, the Central Bank of England, to issue all currency with interest! The people knew if they allowed that, it would cause untold debt and force them into being subservient to this guy. Let the war begin. Revolutionary that is…

Long story short, we fought and won. Basically we came to a new world to find freedom. Now what? Settle down, ban together and enjoy the good life. These small groups realized they needed a few rules. Something basic like liberty and justice for all... a country was born. Basic services were needed. People were needed to enforce theses new laws, a military to protect freedom, as well as many other services. Those services cost money. So everyone decided to pay a small amount to provide them, taxes. But the wise leaders of this group, our founding forefathers, decided there should be a militia to avoid ever being forced into subservience again. This militia would keep the new government in check and never would we worry of this again.

Fast forward a couple of hundred years or so. That same militia is now viewed legally and socially as a group of dangerous crack pots. That right to bear arms, originating from the need for a militia, has been replaced with the right to bear approved arms for a fee. The freedom to spend this new currency has been replaced by the idea “you can spend it but we want to make as much as we can and it has to be easy for us to collect and monitor” ideology. That sounds a lot like interest on our new currency to me.

“Since there are many legal issues involved in taxing online gambling maybe we should just make spending small amounts for fun illegal”. “Let’s replace that with making much more by requiring all people to risk more than they can afford, charge higher taxes and force the casinos to pay fees to stay open. Sure that’ll work”!

Two hundred years later where are we? Unreasonable taxation, laws and regulations that force citizens to conform for fear of being jailed and stripped of all freedom and rights for life. The government we created has become a group of attorneys pushing papers around for personal gain while smoking expensive cigars and attending $500,000 Cancun “business meetings”. The list goes on but we Americans all know the story. What’s going on? I’m far from being an alarmist or a crazy crack pot. I happen to be the average American that up until a few years ago was proud to be an American and truly felt this was the best country in the world. Myself and many other “normal” Americans, are wondering what’s going on and wonder how we can fix this.

I truly hate to say this but for the first time in my life, I’m embarrassed to be an American!

Who am I hurting if I choose to spend $50 to play a game? The price of an average dinner for one hour! The risk should be mine to take. It’s my money. I haven’t seen our government exposing large sites for cheating or a high occurrence of gambling addicts losing their mortgage payment online. In fact, if this was a problem wouldn’t it make more sense to offer help rather than punish the average person for the failures of a few? I suppose I’m merely ignorant to the issues at hand. I would love to hear some valid reasons as to how this bungling move helps me, the common guy who enjoys a small game after work every now and again.

Ok...first off the companies haven't been seized. They're not US based companies so it's not that easy. What is going is a simple DNS redirection if you happen to be in the US. From what I understand from the other thread, outside the US you get the normal site. Secondly, the only reason for the 2 arrests is they were in the US at this time. The rest of those charged are apparently not in the US.

Those of you who play outside the US should be fine provided the US can't gain access to major assets of any of these companies, which I doubt they'd be stupid enough to allow.

Now those of us inside the US are kinda screwed. I can still play on Bodog but how long until they try to after those companies??

Zorfox,

If you figure out what to do for the American people to take our country back you let me know. I am a sane educated middle class american and I am day after day disappointed by both the right and the left in the USA.

At this point no matter who I vote for in elections both state and federal the scumbags will do the same thing but only talk about it in different ways. Unbelievable!

Spoken like a "normal" American. I’m sick and tired of hearing the same thing over and over yet we can do nothing to change it. Voting doesn't work. It hasn't for some time plain and simple. How do we fix it? I have no idea, I wish I did. Since this isn't the 1700's we can't grab our muskets and revolt. In fact I don't, nor have I ever owned a gun. But I support the right to do so vehemently.

I do believe big changes are on the horizon, perhaps in our lifetime. I hope it’s not a full blown revolt. That would only cause more suffering and problems. I truly think the next big revolution will be “procedural” of sorts. For example, what would happen if every American stayed at home during an election day or refused to purchase anything on a given day? Refuse to pay the power or stroke their ego with votes and they listen. That’s in sort the kind of revolution we may see soon. I doubt seriously it would be anything historically proven. Those times are hopefully over.

Maybe there should be a national revolution day where we all stay home and do absolutely nothing unless changes we request are made prior to that day. The internet is fully capable of networking people together. Remember Egypt and Facebook not so long ago? Well I better stop. Now I AM beginning to sound like a crack pot lol.

eh...

America is at an all time low. I am disgraced to be living in this country. And poker is just the latest part of that....

Open your eyes people, we are not free, stop thinking this government is so great.

I have not played poker in 15 days and now wanted to play ....
i don't know what do say now!!! this really hurts....
there go my extra income...guess I have to go pump gas now

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+1,000,000 I'm right there with ya buddy. Land of the free is a time of the past. You're not free when government is creeping their ways into every crevice that can get into. Limited government, that is what the country was founded upon!

I live in Canada but the US is being smart... they don't want 'losers' to waste their income on Poker... most of us are smart enough to play the right game, but addicted gamblers are going on Welfare do to poker sites of such. This is how the US loses incomes to the Countries of Poker sites. This way the US poker sites will be gaining money for the government and they won't be losing... There are byways to this but the US government has been planning this out. I will stay tuned to this discussion hoping people will be smart with their money.

Actually, I think one of the things holding up legalization is the whole taxation issue. In the US, you can deduct gambling losses (from legal gambling ventures) on your taxes. You also receive 1099's (at least at the dog track) for winnings over $600. This balances out as those paying taxes on their winnings are covering those who deduct their losses, and the gambling establishments themselves pay taxes on their cut.

In online poker, if I am an American and I lose $600, I would be able to deduct that on my taxes, reducing the amount I pay the government. The problem is, the fellow who WON my $600 is very likely to be from Belarus or somewhere strange, and cannot be forced to pay American taxes on his winnings. Likewise, while an internationally-based poker room could be required to pay US taxes on the portion of their profits derived from US players (just like any other multi-national corporation), they could not be forced to pay taxes on non-US profits, which would require calculating the amount of each rake, for every hand, for every player in that hand who is a US citizen. Complicated, yes?

This is an issue affecting all online business transactions, but poker seems to be the largest and most potentially profitable (or unprofitable) for the US Treasury. I think they are really hoping to push out the international poker rooms in favor of US-owned ones, so they can get all their taxes neatly tied up.

I wouldn't be surprised to see passage of a bill which classified online poker rooms as being operated on US soil if owned by a US company, which would allow them to require the deduction of US taxes on any withdrawals regardless of the country of origin of the recipient.

Frankly, I don't care how they do the taxes. Just give me back mah Pokah!!

EDIT: In the interest of not fearmongering, let me specify ... give me back mah PokahStahs!

Fulll tilt was shut down but back on now. Was this a sick late april 1st joke

i wonder if those site will reopen for us players?

Shamelessly stolen from a post on another forum, but pretty much what I was thinking:

The big lie of the United States is that we are "the freest nation in the world". My wife even repeated that to me last night as I was bemoaning our collective fate.

The trouble with the statement is that it's categorically false. It has been shown many times now that, by regulation count and other metrics, the United States is well behind a number of developed countries in the "free" standings. At last count, I believe we were ranked around 20th...

For this reason and others, I have long been looking for a place outside the US to which we could expatriate. Conversations I have with others indicate they're thinking similarly. I wonder how many more bombs like this the feds can lob before there's a mass exodus of the country's producers.

Sorry, didn't mean to turn this political. I'm just searching for an adjective to describe my feelings towards our government right now, and "disgusted" isn't remotely strong enough.

Well this is what we get for allowing ourselves to be pawned by a two party poker system. Vote third party!!! Stop letting a country designed to be more free be swallowed by a party poker system. Its a waste of your vote as a rational human being to vote two party!!!

I strongly second that! We used to be free. Over the years lawmakers have chipped away so much of the constitution, among other thing, that we are now left with little resembling what our forefathers intended.

Hopefully there will be no exodus. This is our country. I’m going nowhere. I hope enough "bombs" are dropped that the majority of citizens will do something to change the status quo. Leaving your home because of a smoldering waste basket makes no sense. Put the fire out!


Political is exactly what this is.

shocked, appalled, sickened, revolted, dismayed, horror-struck, annoyed, irritated, fuming, mad, livid, irate, heated, cross...

WTF is going on? Is this an elaborate hoax by FT haters the FBI? FT is working now but now im 2 scared to put money on full tilt poker in case it shuts down. online poker is a big gamble anyway with internet connection and fixing now this BS.

Yes Tilt is up and working but you can't do anything but play "play money" games.

Now what? Settle down, ban together and enjoy the good life.

I think it's funny that Zorfox included the ironic misspelling above. The Feds certainly are "banning" together. (I think he meant "band together.")

The rest of his rant sure seemed like a Glenn Beck type end-of-the-world tirade.

Just remember, the "Poker Players Bill of Rights" was making it's way through congress just fine until the idiots from the Tea Party showed up and killed it.

You are 100% absolutely correct.

It may be time to put the list of sites that allow US Players in a "Members Only" area. They may not want a light flashed on them right now.

You're correct I did mispeel that.<-Spelling error intentional. Most people can extract the correct thought even though the word was spelled incorrectly. I have to admit though, "The Feds certainly are "banning" together." was a good one!

Sorry if you disagree. I’m certainly not the only American frequently appalled by our own government’s actions. However diluting the thread with argumentative posts accomplishes nothing. Let’s agree to disagree and move on.

Agreed. And the fat cat bankers who bilked US citizens for billions walked away free and clear. This is what we've become vvv

I am a Canadian citizen. The Full Tilt Poker site had a shut down post up and is open for business for everyone except Us player

"The land of the free"

... but only if you pay for it....

OMG. I hope in Germany doesn´t happen the same f* thing...

Agreed. And the fat cat bankers who bilked US citizens for billions walked away free and clear.