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Missouri man the latest to be charged under UIGEA |
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Missouri man the latest to be charged under UIGEA
A 51-year-old Missouri man has been charged with participating in the conduct of a gambling business and conspiracy to launder the proceeds of a gambling business by the U.S. District Court of Maryland.
Kenneth Wienski of O'Fallon, Mo., was charged under the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) for transferring money to and from Internet gambling operators to fund player accounts. He was also charged under Maryland criminal code, which states that a person may not "receive, become the depository of, record, register, or forward, or propose, agree, or pretend to forward, money or any other thing or consideration of value, to be bet wagered or gambled on the result of a race, contest or contingency."
A criminal complaint filed by Detective Richard Gunn of the Anne Arundel County Police Department details the relationship payment processors play in the business model of Internet gambling operators who choose to accept bets from U.S. players. "In order to facilitate the movement of funds to and from their customers, Internet gambling operators began using money processing businesses generally called 'payment processors,'" the criminal complaint reads. "Typically, an Internet gaming operator directs the payment processor to collect funds from individual gamblers, funds intended to be used to wager with the gambling organization.
The payment processor then notifies the gambling organization when the funds are available." The complaint details how undercover agents gambled at Bodog, making several wagers on sporting events while in Maryland. On several occasions, the agent collected winnings in the form of a check payout. Those checks came from payment processors based in the United States, including Direct Channel, JBL Services, ZipPayments, Electracash, HMD Inc., SNR and Diversified Check Solutions. Warrants were issued to JBL Services in January 2008, and $14 million was seized. Other similar shutdowns and seizures followed with ZipPayments (July 2008, $9.8 million), Electracash (July 2009, $2 million), and HMD Inc. (August 2009, $1.7 million). |
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