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Gambling911.com has learned that the US Attorney's office in New York is behind the recent issues related to Instant eChecks being cut off and checks bouncing from major online poker websites. This is a federal matter, not a state investigation as previously reported on Gambling911.com late this afternoon.
The United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York represents the United States and its agencies in civil and criminal litigation before the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York . The Office files well over 1000 criminal cases each year, and is one of the busiest prosecutor's offices in the federal system.
The US Attorney's office out of New York has been especially aggressive in going after online gambling entities since 1998.
This office has also gone after payment processors for online gambling in the past including Neteller, once the most popular payment platform for Internet gambling sites. Gambling911.com was the first to break that story in 2007.
This was also the same office that indicted 21 online sportsbook owners in March of 1998. Only one, Jay Cohen, returned to face trial. He was ultimately sentenced to just under two years.
ePassporte, another online payment processing company that dealt heavily with poker websites, also claimed last year that it was under investigation by the US Attorney's office in New York.
While some online poker players feared potential legal trouble for attempting to deposit the Instant eChecks, there was some comfort in knowing that players were not adversely affected by the Neteller shutdown outside of being inconvenienced. Customers in some cases may have to pay a fee for the bad checks however.
None of the online sportsbooks or casinos appear to be affected by this the Instant eCheck situation.
The Interactive Media Entertainment & Gaming Association (iMEGA.org) is monitoring this situation closely throughout the weekend and staying in close touch with Gambling911.com over this matter to determine what if any such an action might have on its current legal challenge against the US Government related to the "Unconstitutionality" of UIGEA (the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act).
The Poker Players Association (PPA) has not issued any statements related to this matter as of 10:30 pm EST Friday evening and was not expected to comment until Monday.
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Christopher Costigan, Gambling911.com Publisher
