PokerStars Site Shut Down by FBI

The PokerStars website was shut down Friday by the FBI, putting into doubt the future of the online poker giant’s operations in the United States. The shutdown was part of a move against several major online poker operators and payment processors that has radically changed the face of online poker overnight.

 Click Here For Sites Still Accepting USA Players

The FBI seized the PokerStars.com domain name, along with those of Full Tilt Poker and UB/Absolute Poker. In addition, 11 defendants were charged on several counts. Most of the offenses are related to violations of the UIGEA law that prevents financial institutions from legally processing online gambling transactions, the operation of what the US government considers an illegal gambling business, as well as fraud and money laundering.

Those indicted by the US government are said to have made attempts to fool banks into processing transactions by disguising the nature of gambling deposits, and in some cases, actually bribing banks in order to get them to process payments.

Those charged in relation with the operation of PokerStars include Isai Scheinberg, Nelson Burtnick, Paul Tate, Ryan Lang, Bradley Franzen, Ira Rubin, Chad Elie and John Campos.

PokerStars quickly released a statement reacting to the shutdown of their site.

“As you may have heard, we have had to suspend real money poker services to people based in the US due to legal developments there. These developments are confined to US and not have any impact on your ability to continue our services,” the statement said.

“Please be assured player balances are safe,” it continued. “There is no cause for concern. For all customers outside the US it is business as usual.

The PokerStars website has been moved to www.pokerstars.eu, and our Support Email address is now support@pokerstars.eu. We apologize to our players for any inconvenience caused by this disruption.

Please be aware that we are currently experiencing a very high volume of emails, so our response times are delayed. We will answer player emails as soon as possible. Thank you for your patience and understanding in this matter."

All access to the real money services of PokerStars.com was removed for American players, though USA players are still able to play in play money games through PokerStars.net. As of Friday evening, PokerStars.eu was up and running to service other customers throughout the world.