The owners of three of the largest Internet poker companies operating in the United States were accused on Friday of tricking regulators and banks into processing billions of dollars of illegal Internet gambling proceeds.

Eleven people including the owners of Full Tilt Poker, Absolute Poker and PokerStars were charged with violating anti-Internet gambling laws, according to charges filed by federal prosecutors in Manhattan.

In addition, according to a statement from the government, restraining orders were issued against more than 75 bank accounts used by the poker companies and their payment processors, and 5 Internet domain names used to host the poker games were seized.

The charges are part of a crackdown on Internet gambling in the United States, where it has been illegal since 2006.

In March, Wynn Resorts said that it had entered into a partnership with PokerStars, and that they would work for passage in the United States of legislation that would define illegal Internet gambling.

Here’s a link to the DOJ’s press release.

http://www.justice.gov/usao/nys/pressreleases/April11/scheinbergetalindictmentpr.pdf

source: Reuters

http://www.nytimes.com