Frozen Poker Funds: 1

In an attempt to crackdown on online casino gambling in the United States, the Federal prosecutors of the Southern District of New York have demanded that four US banks freeze funds. The four banks that have to freeze funds associated with online casinos include Citibank and Wells Fargo. Those banks have been ordered to freeze about $33 million in funds that are allegedly held by poker players who play online. No one in the online casino industry saw this coming, so as you can imagine there will be a quick reaction to these demands by the online poker sites who have been affected by the freezing of funds. The seizure of funds was issued in the Southern District of New York by a judge for an account in San Francisco at the bank, Wells Fargo.

The warrant came a long with a signed letter that was faxed to the Alliance Bank of Arizona. The assistant US attorney for the Southern District of New York, Arlo Devlin Brown signed the letter and sent the letter. The reason why the prosecutor is able to seize the funds is because they are involved in money laundering and illegal gambling transactions which are punishable under the United States laws. The funds at the banks, although not yet legally seized, they are to be considered that way by the banks. The online casino activity that is associated with all of the seized funds is going to be looked at by Brown. He said that of the funds, "the government has probable cause that the gambling payments of US residents had been directed to offshore illegal Internet gambling businesses."