If you visit any of the three sites — pokerstars.com, fulltiltpoker.com or absolutepoker.com, you’ll be greated with a warning from the FBI letting you know the domains have been seized and that gambling is illegal.

The indictment charges eleven defendants with bank fraud, money laundering, and illegal gambling offenses. The executives from Isle of Man-based Pokerstars, Ireland-based Full Tilt, and Costa Rica-based Absolute Poker were among those indicted. In addition to the criminal charges, the feds also filed a civil suit seeking $3 billion in damages.

“These defendants concocted an elaborate criminal fraud scheme, alternately tricking some U.S. banks and effectively bribing others to assure the continued flow of billions in illegal gambling profits,” Preet Bharara, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York said in a statement. “Foreign firms that choose to operate in the United States are not free to flout the laws they don’t like simply because they can’t bear to be parted from their profits.”

If you have money tied up with one of these websites, you have no access to cash out right now and who knows when you will.

Post from: EveryJoe

Try as I might, there was no news this week about my favorite potential illegal recruit from USC, who could single handedly bring down and entire college basketball program. I wonder what L.A. Times O.J. Mayo beat writer Ben Bolch did with all his free time this week?

But fear not faithful readers!

The NBA Draft is coming up and as Mayo prepares to make his way up to the podium to pose with NBA Commissioner David Stern wearing the cap of the team that drafted him, and as the NCAA, Pacific 10 Conference, the state of California, the FBI, the CIA, the United States Congress, Senate, and the Trilateral Commission continues to investigates possible misdeeds, rest assured Ben and I will be here to bring it all to you.

Post from: EveryJoe

Now he reports that former Mayo lackey and whistle blower Louis Johnson met with the NCAA, the Pacific 10 conference and officials from USC to discuss some, if not all of the things Johnson told ESPN’s “Outside the Lines” last month about Mayo receiving tons of money from a minion working for a Los Angeles sports agency.

Johnson, a former sports writer for the Long Beach Press-Telegram and the Orange County Register is reportedly writing a book on what he knows, what he saw and what he did during his time with Mayo. Quite naturally he has an attorney, David M. Murphy, who declined comment on what was said during the discussion.

The Internal Revenue Service, the FBI and the U.S attorney’s office is also probing into possible “misuse of charitable organization funds” my Mayo caregiver Rodney Guillory.

And so far USC continues to keep mum on the just what they let Guillory get away with while he was babysitting Mayo.

I guess we’ll just have to wait until Johnson’s book comes out.

Photo: www.newscom.com

Post from: EveryJoe