Home / Poker News December 2008 / PartyPoker founder settles with US DoJ
PartyPoker founder settles with US DoJ
Posted by: James Carter. - Thu, 2008-12-18 19:18
Indian millionaire and
PartyPoker co-founder Anurag Dikshit was rumored to be eying a settlement with the US authorities by pleading guilty to charges of violation of the Wire Act and paying a fine of $300 million after which he would co-operate with the US Department of Justice in other similar ongoing investigations, a few days ago.
Dikshit, one of India’s wealthiest men and one of the PartyPoker owners who have been with the company since the very beginning, currently holds 27% of Party Gaming PLC which includes an online casino and an online bingo venue in addition to their flagship poker branch.
Russel DeLeon and Ruth Parasol are the other high-profile owners of the operation, with 14% each. None of them have expressed any desire to negotiate with US authorities following Dikshit’s example.
The Indian businessman risked a 2 year jail sentence by setting foot on US soil, he did nonetheless make his plea agreement in the Southern District of New York, a jurisdiction familiar with such online gambling settlements, indictments and investigations, in front of District Judge Jed S. Rakoff and agreed to pay the $300 million fine too. He also paid a $15 million bond, and he admitted he might indeed have been in contempt of US laws.
His 2 year jail term got a deferred sentencing for December 16th 2010. Dikshit also agreed not to travel outside the EU, India and New York.
As a reaction to Anurag Dikshit’s actions, Party Gaming has released a statement in which they outlined the fact that the company was in the closing stages of negotiations with the DOJ regarding a possible return of the company to the US market.
The favorable news from Party Gaming coupled with Dikshit’s settlement agreement prompted a sharp climb in the company’s stocks on the London Stock Exchange.
Despite the accentuated hopes of a better future for the company, with the recent climb thrown into the mix too, Party Gaming shares are still at a fraction of their pre UIGEA value.
PartyGaming’s statement regarding its negotiations with the DOJ has also iterated that those negotiations have nothing in common with the Anurag Dikshit case, and that while they are advanced, there are no guarantees whatsoever that the pursued results will indeed be attained.
