Home / Poker News January 2012 / 2011’s Worst Poker Stories – Black Friday
2011’s Worst Poker Stories – Black Friday
Posted by: Randy Williams - Mon, 2012-01-02 15:00
Ask any online poker player where he was when he first heard about the Black Friday indictments, chances are people will remember quite accurately – such was the significance of the event. On April 15, 2011, the DoJ unveiled a legal move against the
online poker industry in the shape of a complaint against the founders of the top online poker sites:
PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and the Cereus network members, Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet. Unlike previous moves by the authorities against online poker operators, which mainly consisted of funds seizures, Black Friday had a much farther reaching and direct impact. The internet domain names of the said operators were seized as well, and a DoJ message appeared on them, ringing in an ominous new era for the online poker industry.
While Full Tilt Poker has apparently managed to put all the required pieces into place for a purchase by a French business group and for a DoJ deal and while PokerStars have successfully repaid all their US-based players, the Black Friday ordeal is far from over.
The charges included in the Black Friday complaint were rather serious indeed. Money laundering, conspiracy to circumvent the law and bank fraud were among them. A total of 11 people were named, and 42 bank accounts were seized, together with the above said domain names. The charges were based on the 1955 Illegal Gambling Business Act and the 2006 UIGEA, so the DoJ’s recent backtracking on the Wire Act is not likely to influence the Black Friday indictments in any way.
Black Friday seemed to strike out of the clear blue sky, but in reality, there was quite a bit of investigative work involved in the DoJ’s move. Australian entrepreneur Daniel Tzvetkoff is widely believed to have provided the information that led to the indictments. Tzvetkoff is believed to have been responsible for the setting up of the financial system that allowed the said poker operators to send funds to and receive money from US players.
