FBI seizes domains of pokerstars, full tilt, ub.. (UPDATE: FTP MONIES!!!!!11)

[ensign_lee]

CURRENT UPDATES

DOJ Press Release - http://www.justice.gov/usao/nys/pres...dictmentpr.pdf
DOJ Indictment - Indictment: DOJ vs. Scheinberg, Bitar, Tom, et al
Wynn/PokerStars and Full Tilt/Fertitta Interactive Deal is Over - Poker Websites Targeted in Federal Crackdown - WSJ.com and Steve Wynn Cuts Ties With Embattled Online Poker Site, PokerStars - Steven Bertoni - Money Talks - Forbes
Full Tilt's Announcement About Pulling out of US - Full Tilt Poker Statement - Pulling Out of US Market
Full Tilt's Statement Regarding Withdrawals, doesn't say much - Statement from Full Tilt Poker Regarding Recent Check Withdrawal Issues

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. Processing of both deposit and withdrawal requests is proceeding as normal and is still available to all of our players.

All players who were affected by the current situation have had their funds returned to their accounts and all new withdrawal requests are processing normally. We assure all players on Full Tilt Poker that your online playing experience will not change and that you will be able to both deposit and withdraw funds as needed. Your money remains safe, secure and accessible at all times.

Full Tilt Poker remains committed to the protection of our players’ security and legal rights, and will continue to provide the best and safest online poker room available worldwide.

PokerStarsSteve replies on 2p2, doesn't say much - Two Plus Two Poker Forums - View Single Post - Trouble: Online poker web sites seized by the FBI (Stars + Tilt included)

As you may have heard, PokerStars has had to suspend real money poker services to people based in the US due to legal developments there. These developments are confined to the US and do not have any impact on the ability of players outside the US to continue using PokerStars services.

Please be assured player balances are safe. There is no cause for concern about loss of funds in your PokerStars account. For all customers outside the US it is business as usual.

The PokerStars website has been moved to Online Poker Games | Play for Free Texas Holdem | PokerStars, and the PokerStars Support email address is now [email protected]. PokerStars apologises to all players for any inconvenience caused by this disruption.

Please be aware that PokerStars Support is currently experiencing a very high volume of emails, so response times are delayed. Player emails will be answered as quickly as possible.

It is understood that many players, especially those from the US, may have additional questions or concerns about these changes, account status, and cashouts. The information above is all the information available at this time. PokerStars management and legal team continues to review the situation and will provide additional information it becomes available.

As there is no additional information available to pass on, I will not be answering follow-up questions at this time. Thank you for your patience and understanding in this matter.

FullTiltPoker.com moves to FullTiltPoker.co.uk, PokerStars.com moves to PokerStars.eu
Live QuadJacks USTREAM show talking about the issues - QuadJacks Black Friday on USTREAM: QuadJacks and friends reflect upon the current state of online poker in America, after the clusterfuck that befell it on...

Not Yet Confirmed Updates
- Apparently PokerStars has been calling their high stakes pros and regulars ensuring the money is safe.
- Jungleman was saying "I think the money is safe" wrt to Full Tilt.


UIGEA and IGPEA Bills - Bill Text - 109th Congress (2005-2006) - THOMAS (Library of Congress)

------------------

HOW ARE WE NOT TALKING ABOUT THIS?!?!?!?!

POKERSTARS.com
FULlTILTPOKER.com

point to scary FBI warning images... O.o

(P.S. Sorry rilla for introducing poker in the commune, but I figured this was warranted)

Update: the software itself still works. You can still play poker like normal. Presumably those are based off of specific ISPs and not off of the domains. However, this could be a harbinger of things to come.

2nd Update: uh...Pokerstars is no longer letting US players play on their clients. O.o

[bigspenda73]

this sucks

[philly and the phanatics]

mine still work fine?

[bikes]

http://www.justice.gov/usao/nys/pres...dictmentpr.pdf

[ensign_lee]

mine still work fine?

Give your ISP time to catch up.

[philly and the phanatics]

jesus shit, so what does this mean? are we not going to be able to get our money off there?

[philly and the phanatics]

asdflnasdlfmkasl this sucks so bad

[Alexos]

I'm taking PS transfers for 10% vig, lmk.

[philly and the phanatics]

I'm taking PS transfers for 10% vig, lmk.

def interested , dont want to spazz and do it until i hear from some other people regarding what they think is going to happen (i realize we are all largely in the dark on this but surely some people have a better grasp on the situation than i do)

[philly and the phanatics]

how come in bikes link it says april 11 in the url but the document clearly says april 15th

[Alexos]

Haha the panic has set in... idk how serious it is, was half-joking. I'd assume ppl are overreacting?

[philly and the phanatics]

i def am both panicked and over reacting lol

[wufwugy]

wtffffff

cant connect to 2p2

[philly and the phanatics]

lol i was on 2p2 then i read this and refreshed and now i cant either lol wtffff

[bigspenda73]

2p2 probably just overloaded

there were 5k+ people in NVG alone the last time I could connect

[KoRnholio]

Only Fulltilt's page is showing the "scary FBI logos" for me.

[bigspenda73]

ofc there are a quarter million people playing on Stars right now, so their lawyer fees for the next 10 years will be covered by rake/fees over the next 20 minutes

[bikes]

well all we can really do is wait for things to unfold, speculation until the informed people make their opinions known is kinda pointless.

[wufwugy]

Would this mean that just the websites are seized, or that the clients couldn't run?

[bigspenda73]

I'm not sure why the sites are down but the clients are still operational

no one is having issues connecting to the clients AFAIK

[bikes]

clients work fine for me

[a500lbgorilla]

These are the final days of freedom in America. Get to your guns!

[philly and the phanatics]

clients work for me

[a500lbgorilla]

DOJ indicts founders of top US online poker sites - MarketWatch

Doesn't seem like a good thing.

[a500lbgorilla]

Two Plus Two Poker Forums - View Single Post - April **** THREAD

reading this news bit: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...852516194.html

makes me 99% positive the sites are going to lose any legal battle. given that the fed will ask for billions in penalties, i think there is a pretty decent chance we will lose whatever funds we have on FT/PS/UB. Also, cashing out is probably not going to happen very successfully (currently been waiting on 20k+ from FT over a month). Either way, the mad dash to cash out will work against the fact that FT probably has few or no remaining processors.

tough breaks

Though his link is dead for me...

[kfaess]

beginning of the end ... until new legislation

[bigspenda73]

Cashout request time: 2011/04/15 14:20 ET

Cashout amount: USD x,xxx.xx


USD x,xxx.xx has been credited to your ECHECK account (1***************xxx).

Please allow 3-10 business days for this transaction to show up on your statement.

**IMPORTANT - This transaction will appear on your bank statement as PStars (or an abbreviated version)

[BooG690]

I'm sick to my stomach. I'd kindly ask Tyson to start a transfers forum here on FTR that only allows trusted members to transfer between each other. I'm sure the Euros will be interested in getting a vig and Americans will avoid the falling sky.

This is 100x better than trusting some random on 2+2. Please to help FTR.

[kfaess]

Haven't tried to withdraw yet. I just figured that all the bank accounts and processors are already shut down/seized.

[philly and the phanatics]

boog just got a check from stars this week that bounced

[philly and the phanatics]

o didnt see boog was in this thread already, hello boog....but yea i agree, alexos start getting money on paypal lol

[a500lbgorilla]

Poker Websites Targeted in Federal Crackdown - WSJ.com

[bigspenda73]

[a500lbgorilla]

So are Ivey and them in deep shit over this?

[Monty3038]

Haha the panic has set in... idk how serious it is, was half-joking. I'd assume ppl are overreacting?

Alexos wins with the avatar.

[a500lbgorilla]

Well, that's just... that.

[ensign_lee]

I'm sick to my stomach. I'd kindly ask Tyson to start a transfers forum here on FTR that only allows trusted members to transfer between each other. I'm sure the Euros will be interested in getting a vig and Americans will avoid the falling sky.

This is 100x better than trusting some random on 2+2. Please to help FTR.

Trying to get some signal from all the noise, *THIS IS A REALLY GOOD IDEA*.

Radmins, can you make it so?

[bikes]

i'll get ahold of whoever to see what i can do

[bigspenda73]

Trying to get some signal from all the noise, *THIS IS A REALLY GOOD IDEA*.

Radmins, can you make it so?

I don't see this as a good idea for the admins, this could be misconstrued as laundering or something.

[a500lbgorilla]

I don't see this as a good idea for the admins, this could be misconstrued as laundering or something.

Yeah, anyone involved in this may want to get some sort of expert legal opinion before moving forward. You have to assume that the financial transactions across the sites aren't being hidden from the feds.

[bikes]

Yeah, anyone involved in this may want to get some sort of expert legal opinion before moving forward. You have to assume that the financial transactions across the sites aren't being hidden from the feds.

sending out emails for you guys now i guess

[bigspenda73]

also who knows if you can even transfer funds right now

[BooG690]

also who knows if you can even transfer funds right now

I received an FTP transfer no less than 15 minutes ago.

Yeah, anyone involved in this may want to get some sort of expert legal opinion before moving forward. You have to assume that the financial transactions across the sites aren't being hidden from the feds.

I'm sure Tyson will cover his bases in regard to this.

[givememyleg]

wtf

[philly and the phanatics]

tyty bb ur the mane

[a500lbgorilla]

I received an FTP transfer no less than 15 minutes ago.

I'm sure Tyson will cover his bases in regard to this.

It's also directed at any Canadian looking to facilitate. They're probably safe, but I don't think this is the time to grab at some cash without appraising the true risks.

And also the Americans looking to move money through a money launderer, to a Canadian, and back to themselves. You should be careful.

[kfaess]

It's also direct at any Canadian looking to facilitate. They're probably safe, but I don't think this is the time to grab at some cash without appraising the true risks.

And also the Americans looking to move money through a money launderer, to a Canadian, and back to themselves. You should be careful.

Agree with this. tbh I think the best course of action right now is to just do nothing until we have more info

[BooG690]

boog just got a check from stars this week that bounced

Confirmed.

[spoonitnow]

Good luck all.

[a500lbgorilla]

http://www.justice.gov/usao/nys/pres...dictmentpr.pdf

[a500lbgorilla]

"For example, defendants ISAI SCHEINBERG and PAUL TATE of
PokerStars, RAYMOND BITAR and NELSON BURTNICK of Full Tilt Poker,
and SCOTT TOM and BRENT BECKLEY of Absolute Poker, arranged for
the money received from U.S. gamblers to be disguised as payments
to hundreds of non-existent online merchants purporting to sell
merchandise such as jewelry and golf balls."


"As alleged in the Indictment, to accomplish their
fraud, the Poker Companies worked with an array of highly
compensated "payment processors" – including defendants RYAN
LANG, IRA RUBIN, BRADLEY FRANZEN, and CHAD ELIE – who obtained
accounts at U. S. banks for the Poker Companies. The payment
processors lied to banks about the nature of the financial
transactions they were processing, and covered up those lies, by,
among other things, creating phony corporations and websites to
disguise payments to the Poker Companies. For example, a
PokerStars document from May 2009 acknowledged that they received
money from U.S. gamblers through company names that "strongly
imply the transaction has nothing to do with PokerStars," and
that PokerStars used whatever company names "the processor can
get approved by the bank.""

[bikes]

transfer thread is up, recommend only trading with trusted forum members and FTR is no way affiliated with such transactions

[baudib]

Poker Indictments: Daniel Tzvetkoff May Have Given Up The Online Poker Industry To The Feds

[a500lbgorilla]

Poker Indictments: Daniel Tzvetkoff May Have Given Up The Online Poker Industry To The Feds

This is just becoming brilliant theater.

[BooG690]

transfer thread is up, recommend only trading with trusted forum members and FTR is no way affiliated with such transactions

http://www.flopturnriver.com/pokerfo...rs-186848.html

I got them good ideas. Positive rep anybody?

And thank you Bbickes!

[givememyleg]

YouTube - Arresting me for what?

[philly and the phanatics]

in the words of BB.....sigh duck

[BooG690]

transfer thread is up, recommend only trading with trusted forum members and FTR is no way affiliated with such transactions

FTP and PokerStars aren't allowing transfers. Thread is basically useless. Please note this in the OP BBickes.

[Lukie]

I'm not even sure transfers would be a good idea right now anyway.

My non-expert, non-lawerly advice: Avoid all cashouts and transfers right now. I would be shocked if the payment processors worked in the immediate future. Money on the sites is effectively useless for the forseeable future.

[a500lbgorilla]

YouTube - Arresting me for what?

http://www.justice.gov/usao/nys/pres...dictmentpr.pdf

[Alexos]

wow, wtf is going on.

[LuckySlevin]

This is insane. Site now showing FBI message over in UK too, wasn't until an hour ago. I hope this doesn't bring the best poker site in the world down...

Poker en ligne - Jouer gratuitement Texas Holdem - Poker online still seems ok, presumuablly the uk pokerstars redirected to the .com domain, and the .fr doesn't?

I wonder how much of their assets will be frozen? How much they have outside of America? If the US can freeze all associated assets or just in USA? Sure they will mount a strong legal battle and I hope for your guys sakes they win it. Even if they don't surely they will have to give you your money back? and only confiscate pokerstars business profits??????

[stonyman]

pokerstars.net is still up but they have yet to make any announcements about what is going down.

[rong]

This is insane. Site now showing FBI message over in UK too, wasn't until an hour ago. I hope this doesn't bring the best poker site in the world down...

All sites appearing as normal for me, not sure what you're seeing that I'm not.

[gotigers1234]

What kind of Bullshit is this? The government didn't prosecute AIG or any of the investment firms with them running a ponzi scheme and pstars ftp and others are making a honest living and these guys get treated like criminals WTF??????

[wufwugy]

I am forever baffled at how fucking retarded these sites are

They did NOT need to involve US banks. This whole thing is coming down to damning bank and wire fraud. Online poker will go the way of sportsbetting (which is actually good in the long run). It needs to weed out the fucking morons who don't know how to run a fucking business

I can't fucking believe the story about SunTrust. Fucking morons. That's like Capone giving the IRS the finger and laughing

[daven]

I'm not even sure transfers would be a good idea right now anyway.

My non-expert, non-lawerly advice: Avoid all cashouts and transfers right now. I would be shocked if the payment processors worked in the immediate future. Money on the sites is effectively useless for the forseeable future.

i pulled all my stars $$ in the last 5 minutes.
I wouldn't be transferring between players.

[bigred]

Well, I hope the internet poker pros had most of their money offsite cause. We all knew there was a very small probability that this would ever happen but it looks like the government hit their 1 outer.

Working at Starbucks | Starbucks Coffee Company

I'll take mine with skim plz.

[bigred]

That was really mean...it's ok to use 2% as well.

[LuckySlevin]

names of people in trouble...

[fjuanl]

this is a dream. this isnt happening

[kevster]

If the feds/irs/whoever bring down my fave site I'm gonna be pissed.

What are the chances of this seriously? Can the US govt. sue for billions? Would they want to? e.g. harming future revenue if they get their way?

[bode]

i would be careful cashing all of your money out. With money on Stars/FTP i would be that you will see your money someday, however long that may be. If its in the hands of one of the payment processors, good chance the government seizes it and you never see it again.

[wufwugy]

What are the chances of this seriously? Can the US govt. sue for billions? Would they want to? e.g. harming future revenue if they get their way?

The sites are fucked. These fucking retards actually went and did actual bank fraud that could get them in real trouble. Everybody indicted will either take a plea agreement, or tell the FBI to fuck off and never enter US ever.

PS already left US, FTP will soon, UB/AP might. There is some hope for Cereus since leaving US would practically crush their business; they could become smaller than Cake or something if they left US, yet PS and FTP will still be the two largest with Euro alone

[WeaselT]

i thought the same thing