Federal Indictment in Maryland Reflects Continuing Crackdown on Gaming

By: Ifrah Law

The U.S. Department of Justice is continuing its crackdown on the online gaming industry.

On May 23, 2011, the U.S. attorney for the District of Maryland unsealed an indictment that charged several poker and gambling sites with illegal gambling and money laundering.

Those indicted were ThrillX Systems, Ltd., d/b/a BetEd; Darren Wright; and David Parchomchuk, both of British Columbia, Canada, as well as K23 Group Financial Services, d/b/a BMX Entertainment; and Ann Marie Puig of San Jose, Costa Rica.

Just as the U.S. attorney in Manhattan did on “Black Friday,” April 15, 2011, the Maryland U.S. attorney announced the seizure of several websites on the grounds that they were used to facilitate illegal activity. In this case, 11 bank accounts around the world were seized.

In this case, unlike “Black Friday,” Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents set up a fake payment processor in order to work with the sites that were under suspicion and to gather evidence against them. Then, at the appropriate time, the government revealed that the company was not a real one.

It’s clear now that the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York is not the only prosecutor who is interested in the gaming industry.

While the facts and the exact nature of the charges are not clear yet to us at this point, we will be looking at these indictments in the next couple of days to see what the government has in mind.