Skip to main content

PokerStars, Full Tilt, Absolute Poker busted for fraud, money laundering in FBI crackdown

pokerstars_logo_shutdown_fraud
Image used with permission by copyright holder

The US Department of Justice has charged the owners of three of the largest Internet gambling sites for violating a cacophony of laws, including anti-gambling laws, money laundering and bank fraud, Reuters reports. The sites include Full Tilt Poker, Absolute Poker and PokerStars.

New York prosecutors have issued restraining orders against 76 bank accounts in 14 countries that they say these companies used to launder billions of dollars in illegal gambling funds. Five Internet domains associated with the sites have been seized.

Recommended Videos

The indictment includes 11 individuals from the three Internet gambling sites. The Justice Department has brought forth a civil complaint for money laundering through which it seeks $3 billion held by the companies. Authorities say these people used “fraudulent methods” to fool banks into processing the funds.

Two of the 11 charged have been arrested, and law enforcement agents expect at least one of the men to turn himself in. Eight others currently reside outside of the United States, and have not yet been brought into custody.

Those charged include: Isai Scheinberg and Paul Tate of PokerStars; Raymond Bitar and Nelson Burtnick of Full Tilt Poker; Scott Tom and Brent Beckley of Absolute Poker; and Ryan Lang, Ira Rubin, Bradley Franzen, Chad Elie and John Campos, all of whom are said to have been involved with processing the illegal funds.

The maximum penalties for the various charges brought forth against these individuals range from five years in prison and a $250,000 fine to 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine.

“These defendants, knowing full well that their business with U.S. customers and U.S. banks was illegal, tried to stack the deck,” Fedarcyk said. “They lied to banks about the true nature of their business. Then, some of the defendants found banks willing to flout the law for a fee. The defendants bet the house that they could continue their scheme, and they lost.”

The crackdown on these sites is expected to have significant effects on the US poker industry, as well as the millions of poker players who used the sites.

“On behalf of the millions of poker players across the country, we are shocked at the action taken by the U.S. Department of Justice today against online poker companies and will continue to fight for Americans’ right to participate in the game they enjoy,” said the Poker Players Alliance in a press release. “Online poker is not a crime and should not be treated as such. We are currently gathering all of the information around today’s announcement and will offer detailed analysis when the full facts become available.”

The man said to be responsible for facilitating the FBI’s investigation of the poker industry is 28-year-old Daniel Tzvetkoff, who became a prized informant after being arrested for masterminding a system for processing illegal funds between US gamblers and websites.

Some Internet gambling sites remain active, however, including Cake Poker and Bodog. PokerStars has relaunched under the domain PokerStars.eu, and is working normally at the time of this writing.

Online poker has been illegal in the US since the passage of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act in 2006.

Andrew Couts
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Features Editor for Digital Trends, Andrew Couts covers a wide swath of consumer technology topics, with particular focus on…
Thomson Reuters lands copyright win against AI company. What’s next?
Thomson Reuters website as seen on an iPhone 16 Pro.

The first landmark win in an AI copyright case is here. A Delaware court has ruled that a tech startup used copyright-protected material to build a competing AI-based legal product, which is against the law, handing over a remarkable win to Thomson Reuters.

This is the first major victory for a plaintiff fighting against an AI company over what constitutes “fair use” of material owned by another entity. The parent company of the Reuters news agency has been tangled in a lengthy legal case against Ross Intelligence, an AI company that lifted material from Thomson Reuters’s Westlaw platform.

Read more
Apple has a chance to correct one of its biggest mistakes — and it could happen imminently
A man wears an Apple Vision Pro headset.

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Apple’s Vision Pro headset is too expensive. OK, it’s not exactly an unusual sentiment, but something has just happened that could mean Apple is about to take action on this stickiest of sticking points. Indeed, if it comes to pass, Apple might go some way to putting right one of its biggest recent missteps.

Here’s the deal. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman recently took to X to announce his belief that Apple would have some Vision Pro-related news to announce this Friday. Gurman didn’t say what that revelation would be exactly, but if Apple is reaching out to the press, it could suggest that something big is about to go down.

Read more
This tech can end QR code scams, if only Google and Apple pitch in
Scanning a QR code using a phone.

The most successful digital scam is one that is tied to convenience. QR codes, which are used for everything from sharing contacts to making payments, are an ideal vector. In India, which runs the world's largest digital payment system, QR code scams have become a regular nuisance.

I regularly hear from retail shop owners and cab drivers about how they were duped using a fake QR code or app, and similar is the tale of online shoppers. Parking lot QR scams are also rampant in the US and UK, but stealing a few dollars is not the only risk.

Read more