Millions in Online Gambling funds Forfeited to U.S. GovernmentDate published: 18 August 2010
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Consider Online gambling. After an anti-online gambling bill was passed by Congress in late 2006 and signed into law by Bush, online gambling effectively became illegal, forcing U.S. online gambling fans to gamble 'illegally' at offshore sites. But the U.S. Department of Justice was not just content with new legislation designed to prevent Americans from gambling at offshore websites, it also made it a mission to go after certain online gambling operators and online payment processors. The most recent casualty being Ahmad Khawaja, the owner of Allied Wallet and Allied Systems, two popular online payment processors that were used by U.S. online gambling fans to transfer funds to and from offshore online gambling sites. This week in federal court in New York, Khawaja agreed to forfeit $13.3 million to the U.S. government, the same amount of money that was seized by the FBI in June, 2009. The funds were connected to many leading sites, including PokerStars. By agreeing to forfeit the $13.3 million, Khawaja and his processors have 'cleared the slate' with the U.S. Justice Department, although they will no doubt be off-limits to American gamblers, until such time as the U.S. online gambling ban is reversed. |
