Furthermore, he is wasting time and money chasing down poker sites to compensate for his small genitalia,' it read.īut for Buchan the game is over, online at least. The attorney general's Wikipedia entry was changed: 'Bharara is a naturalized American citizen who spends what little free time he has bullying the homeless on the streets on NYC. Full Tilt Poker is, and has always been committed to preserving the integrity of the game and abiding by the law.'Īngry poker players – who argue that their game is one of skill, not luck, so it is not gambling – took to the web to express themselves. In a statement, Full Tilt said: 'Mr Bitar and Full Tilt Poker believe online poker is legal – a position also taken by some of the best legal minds in the United States. 'Foreign firms that choose to operate in the United States are not free to flout the laws they don't like simply because they can't bear to be parted from their profits,' added Bharara. In their 'zeal to circumvent the gambling laws', the defendants were flouting the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, brought in by George Bush, and had engaged in massive money laundering and bank fraud, he said.

The defendants 'concocted an elaborate criminal fraud scheme', said Bharara, 'tricking' some US banks and 'bribing' others to assure the continued flow of billions in illegal gambling profits. He followed it up with a civil suit seeking to recover $3bn (£1.8bn) in allegedly ill-gotten gains. Preet Bharara, the US attorney for New York, has charged Raymond Bitar, Full Tilt's Ireland-based chief executive, and other online poker execs at rival sites, including Isle of Man-based PokerStars and Costa Rica's Absolute Poker, with bank fraud and money laundering.

Online poker seemed to inhabit a greyer area. Sports betting online is illegal and last year David Carruthers, former chief executive of London's BetOnSports, was jailed for 33 months for 'racketeering conspiracy'. Gaming is, and always has been, a hot topic in the US. But for them to do it like this was really, really surprising.'

Popular sites –, and – all have notices stating: 'This domain name has been seized by the FBI.' Buchan said: 'Something had to happen at some point. Buchan noticed the action when he couldn't log on to his usual site.

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