Absolute Poker Co-founder Pleads Guilty in NY

This week Brent Buckley, a co-founder of AbsolutePoker.com, one of three online poker rooms 'seized' by the FBI on April 15 this year, now infamously known as 'Black Friday', pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy in a New York court.

On Black Friday, the domains of AbsolutePoker.com, PokerStars.com and FullTiltPoker.com were seized by the FBI and some of the site owners were arrested on charges of conspiracy to violate the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) and conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud, including Buckley.

He and 11 other co-accused were charged with violating US anti-online gambling laws in a crackdown spearheaded by US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Preet Bharara, and Assistant-Director-In-Charge for the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Janice Fedarcyk.

Buckley Pleaded Guilty to all Charges

In the US District Court in Manhattan, 31-year-old Buckley, the Payments Director for Absolute Poker, pleaded guilty to all charges, and acknowledged that he knew he was breaking the law by processing online gambling related payments through American banks on behalf of his popular Costa Rica-based poker room.

In court, Buckley told Magistrate Judge Ronald Ellis that he knew it was illegal to 'deceive the banks.' He also admitted that his illegal online poker dealings started in the autumn of 2006 and carried on until last spring. Buckley will be sentenced on April 19 next year, when according to the terms of his plea agreement, he should receive a prison term of no less than a year and a half.

In May this year, prosecutors announced that a deal had been struck that would see Absolute Poker to return playing funds owed to its US players, after their funds were frozen as a result of the FBI seizure. This came as very good news for thousands of American online poker fans unable to access their AbsolutePoker.com accounts.