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

[boost]

Except that there a HUUUGE value in NOT doing this because they are presumnably still going keep their companies going and to try to stay competitive in other markets outside of the US. I mean think of what the ramifications would be to other future customers (& current players) who will know that not only were Stars/FT knowingly involved in money laundering, bank fraud, collusion, & bribery in the states, but they refused to give the players (the real victims here) ther funds back. They screwed their customers --- big time.

In the states they were more or less our only options unless we wanted to play at tiny sites w/ no actions. In the UK & abroad, players would have to add that to the reasons NOT to play at FT or Stars and why Party might be the best option. After all, they did the exact opposite years ago & left the US because they knew it would be very very bad business. But if Stars/FT denied funds in the US how could anyone feel safe w/ them? How could they not think it's possible they were violating the financial laws in other countries as well that would make all players just as much as a risk.

What the hell are you talking about. The seized funds have nothing to do with giving players their balances back. Stars, FTP, and the DOJ are all cooperating to make sure players get their account balances back. These are completely separate issues.

The only reason I think I'll get my funds back is because of this. If they were thinking of closing up shop all together, then I'd be worried. But screwing the players like that would I'm sure send everyone running to Party & iPoker in a hurry.

Why would they close up shop? You are linking unrelated things together and getting all confused. Like you said, they will see to it that US players get their money back, because if they don't their reputation is ruined and no one will trust them anywhere. But this has nothing to do with whether they say "Fuck you!" to the DOJ when it comes time to serve jail time and/or pay massive fines. They are simply unrelated issues.

[rowhousepd]

What the hell are you talking about. The seized funds have nothing to do with giving players their balances back. Stars, FTP, and the DOJ are all cooperating to make sure players get their account balances back. These are completely separate issues.

Yikes, sorry, you're right. For some reason I thought your original post was about whether Stars/FT would say f**k you to the players & not return their funds -- rather than not pay the fines (similar to the way Party did they left the market). My bad.

Like you said, they will see to it that US players get their money back, because if they don't their reputation is ruined and no one will trust them anywhere. But this has nothing to do with whether they say "Fuck you!" to the DOJ when it comes time to serve jail time and/or pay massive fines.

Right, but regardless I still wonder whether fact that they were (supposedly) bribing bank officials to process payments, etc., is also going to hurt their reputation. Yes, we all kinda figured something like that was going on, but they are the only ones who now have a very bad public relations mess on their hands. This is a separate issue from not returning funds to the players though which I think we all agree would be disastrous & thus we can probably assume it's going to happen.