Fraud, Online Poker | featured news

The world's largest poker company and its rival have settled federal money laundering and fraud charges, agreeing to pay hundreds of millions of dollars, authorities said. PokerStars, which is based on the Isle of Man, off the coast of Ireland, agreed to forfeit $731 million, including $547 million that will be available to reimburse U.S. customers of the rival, Full Tilt Poker. Full Tilt also agreed to settle and will cease independent operations.

The chief of Full Tilt Poker surrendered to authorities on Monday and pleaded not guilty to charges of illegal gambling and that the online poker operator defrauded its players.

In an aggressive move against online gambling, federal prosecutors allege three Internet poker companies tricked banks into processing billions of dollars of illegal betting proceeds.