Two weeks ago we wrote about a story, that appeared on Subject: Poker (S:P), regarding a possible seizure by the US Department of Justice, Maryland Office on a merge network online poker processor. Since the story came out the Merge network has been hit with withdrawal requests and a 25% drop in online poker traffic. Holdem Poker Chat has been following this story along with the online poker community and we cannot confirm or deny the S:P story.
We’ve contacted all of our industry sources about this and keep getting different answers including: “It’s just fear mongering”, “NoahSD of S:P is just a shill for Full Tilt Poker lawyer A. Jeff Ifrah” and “NoahSD is just an attention whore”. Note: We have nothing against NoahSD or S:P, they’ve written some great news stories in the past.
Poker News Boy has also come out and questioned the motivation behind the S:P story and also posted a story about being contacted via Skype by the so-called S:P source (Robert) that said he had recorded phone conversations to prove everything. When asked by Poker News Boy editor Gerry Poltorak for copies of the said recordings or any documents, the so-called source said he couldn’t because the documents are “Sealed”. He also went on to say that by the information being leaked that the Merge Poker Network had the processor move 95% of the funds in question but that one international account was seized . He also says that for now the Merge network is save as far as the Maryland office is concerned but that he didn’t know what other DoJ offices are working on.
The simple fact is that any online poker site that operates in the US can eventually expect the US DoJ to possibly seize the funds of payment processors. The US DoJ is not in the habit of leaking any information or issuing warnings. We contacted some sources at Merge and all they would say is that they know about the story and are not worried.
We officially have no position on this but felt you should know what we’ve learned.
The only reason i do not believe Subject Poker ,it because how this article mentioned in HoldemChat the DOJ does not leak information that could compromise the case they have against the business or person they are going after.I do not believe it is a for gone conclusion that the DOJ is going to come after anymore poker rooms ,atleast in the near future ,and hopefully online poker will be legalized in the USA very soon which would make make all of this nonsense and rumours put to rest
Irony isn’t?