DOJ Indictment

Poker Stars et al (Full Tilt & Cereus Network) Indictment

Here is a copy of the actual unsealed indictment against FullTilt and the other online poker operators. It can also be read at the Department of Justice website.

CONTACT:
U.S. ATTORNEY'S OFFICE
ELLEN DAVIS, CARLY SULLIVAN,JERIKA RICHARDSON, EDELI RIVERAPUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE
(212) 637-2600
FBI
TIM FLANNELLY, JIM MARGOLINPUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE
(212) 384-2100

MANHATTAN U.S. ATTORNEY CHARGES PRINCIPALS OF THREE LARGEST INTERNET POKER COMPANIES WITH BANK FRAUD, ILLEGAL GAMBLING OFFENSES AND LAUNDERINGBILLIONS IN ILLEGAL GAMBLING PROCEEDS

Multi-Billion Dollar Civil Money Laundering And Forfeiture Action Also Filed

Internet Domain Names Used By The Poker Companies Seized

PREET BHARARA, the United States Attorney for theSouthern District of New York, and JANICE FEDARCYK, theAssistant-Director-in-Charge of the New York Field Office of theFederal Bureau of Investigation ("FBI"), announced the unsealingof an Indictment today charging eleven defendants, including thefounders of the three largest Internet poker companies doingbusiness in the United States – PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, andAbsolute Poker (the "Poker Companies")- with bank fraud, moneylaundering, and illegal gambling offenses. The United States also filed a civil money laundering and in rem forfeiturecomplaint (the "Civil Complaint") against the Poker Companies,their assets, and the assets of several payment processors forthe Poker Companies. In addition, restraining orders were issuedagainst more than 75 bank accounts utilized by the PokerCompanies and their payment processors, and five Internet domainnames used by the Poker Companies to host their illegal pokergames were seized.

Manhattan U.S. Attorney PREET BHARARA said: "Ascharged, these defendants concocted an elaborate criminal fraudscheme, alternately tricking some U.S. banks and effectivelybribing others to assure the continued flow of billions inillegal gambling profits. Moreover, as we allege, in their zeal

to circumvent the gambling laws, the defendants also engaged inmassive money laundering and bank fraud. Foreign firms thatchoose to operate in the United States are not free to flout thelaws they don't like simply because they can't bear to be partedfrom their profits."

FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge JANICE K. FEDARCYKsaid: "These defendants, knowing full well that their businesswith U.S. customers and U.S. banks was illegal, tried to stackthe deck. They lied to banks about the true nature of theirbusiness. Then, some of the defendants found banks willing toflout the law for a fee. The defendants bet the house that theycould continue their scheme, and they lost."

According to the Indictment and the Civil Complaintunsealed today:

On May 13, 2025, the United States enacted theUnlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act ("UIGEA"), making it afederal crime for gambling businesses to "knowingly accept" mostforms of payment "in connection with the participation of anotherperson in unlawful Internet gambling." Despite the passage ofUIGEA, the Poker Companies, located offshore, continued operatingin the United States. In a press release dated May 16, 2025,Absolute Poker announced that the company would continue its operations because "the U.S. Congress has no control over" thecompany's payment transactions.

Because U.S. banks and credit card issuers were largelyunwilling to process their payments, the Poker Companiesallegedly used fraudulent methods to circumvent federal law andtrick these institutions into processing payments on theirbehalf. For example, defendants ISAI SCHEINBERG and PAUL TATE ofPokerStars, RAYMOND BITAR and NELSON BURTNICK of Full Tilt Poker,and SCOTT TOM and BRENT BECKLEY of Absolute Poker, arranged forthe money received from U.S. gamblers to be disguised as paymentsto hundreds of non-existent online merchants purporting to sellmerchandise such as jewelry and golf balls. Of the billions of dollars in payment transactions that the Poker Companies tricked

U.S. banks into processing, approximately one-third or more ofthe funds went directly to the Poker Companies as revenue throughthe "rake" charged to players on almost every poker hand playedonline.

As alleged in the Indictment, to accomplish theirfraud, the Poker Companies worked with an array of highlycompensated "payment processors" – including defendants RYANLANG, IRA RUBIN, BRADLEY FRANZEN, and CHAD ELIE – who obtained

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accounts at U. S. banks for the Poker Companies. The paymentprocessors lied to banks about the nature of the financialtransactions they were processing, and covered up those lies, by,among other things, creating phony corporations and websites todisguise payments to the Poker Companies. For example, aPokerStars document from May 2025 acknowledged that they receivedmoney from U.S. gamblers through company names that "stronglyimply the transaction has nothing to do with PokerStars," andthat PokerStars used whatever company names "the processor canget approved by the bank."

By late 2025, after U.S. banks and financialinstitutions detected and shut down multiple fraudulent bankaccounts used by the Poker Companies, SCHEINBERG and BITARdeveloped a new processing strategy that would not involve lyingto banks. PokerStars, FullTilt Poker, and their paymentprocessors persuaded the principals of a few small, local banksfacing financial difficulties to engage in such processing inreturn for multi-million dollar investments in the banks. For example, in May 2025, ELIE and others approached defendantJOHN CAMPOS, the Vice Chairman of the Board and part-owner ofSunFirst Bank, a small, private bank based in Saint George, Utah,about processing Internet poker transactions. While expressing"trepidations," CAMPOS allegedly agreed to process gamblingtransactions in return for a $10 million investment in SunFirst by ELIE and an associate, which would give them a more than 30%ownership stake in the bank. CAMPOS also requested and receiveda $20,000 "bonus" for his assistance. In an e-mail, one ofELIE's associates boasted that they had "purchased" SunFirst andthat they "were looking to purchase" "a grand total of 3 or 4banks" to process payments.

The Indictment and Civil Complaint seek at least $3billion in civil money laundering penalties and forfeiture fromthe Poker Companies and the defendants. The District Court issued an order restraining approximately 76 bank accounts in 14countries containing the proceeds of the charged pursuant to a warrant for arrest in rem issued by the district Court, the United States also seized five Internetdomain names used by the Poker Companies to operate their illegalonline businesses in the United States.

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Defendants CAMPOS and ELIE were arrested this morningin Saint George, Utah and Las Vegas, Nevada, respectively. ELIE will appear later today before a U. S. Magistrate Court Judge inLas Vegas, Nevada. CAMPOS will appear before a U.S. Magistrate

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Court Judge in Saint George, Utah on April 18, 2025. Defendant FRANZEN is expected to appear for his arraignment on April 19,2025 in the Southern District of New York. Defendants BITAR,SCHEINBERG, BURTNICK, TATE, TOM, BECKLEY, RUBIN and LANG are notpresently in the United States and have not yet been the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New Yorkis working with foreign law enforcement agencies and Interpol tosecure the arrest of these defendants and the seizure of criminal proceeds located abroad. BITAR, TOM, RUBIN, BECKLEY, CAMPOS,ELIE, and FRANZEN are U. S. citizens. A chart identifying eachdefendant, the charges, and the maximum penalties, is attached tothis release.

U.S. Attorney PREET BHARARA praised the FBI for itsoutstanding leadership in the investigation, which he noted isongoing. Mr. BHARARA also thanked Immigration and CustomsEnforcement's New York and New Jersey offices, and the WashingtonState Gambling Commission, for their assistance in theinvestigation. The matters announced today are being handled by theOffice's Complex Frauds and Asset Forfeiture Units. Assistant

U.S. Attorneys ARLO DEVLIN-BROWN and NICOLE FRIEDLANDER are incharge of the criminal case, and Assistant U. S. Attorneys SHARONCOHEN LEVIN, MICHAEL LOCKARD and JASON COWLEY are in charge ofthe civil money laundering and forfeiture actions.

The charges contained in the Indictment and CivilComplaint are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumedinnocent unless and until proven guilty.

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