Three largest online poker sites indicted and shut down by FBI

The founders of the three largest online poker sites were indicted in what could serve as a death blow to the industry. Eleven executives at PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, Absolute Poker and a number of their affiliates were charged with bank fraud and money laundering in an indictment unsealed in a Manhattan court. Two of the defendants were arrested in Utah and Nevada. Federal agents are searching for the others. Prosecutors are seeking to immediately shut down the sites and to eventually send the executives to jail and to recover $3 billion from the companies. On April 15, Full Tilt Poker’s site displayed a message explaining that “this domain name has been seized by the FBI pursuant to an Arrest Warrant.”