interesting article today.....
Payment Processor Pleads Guilty to Federal Indictment
May 24, 2011 - 12:22am
By Shari Geller and Lou Krieger
The indictments handed down by the Department of Justice against three online poker companies and their payment processors are just over a month old, and yet word comes out of New York tonight that the first of the eleven named defendants has already entered a guilty plea.
According to the Associated Press, Bradley Franzen pleaded guilty in a Manhattan court on Monday to conspiracy to commit bank fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering and accepting funds in connection with illegal internet gambling. This information came to AP from Preet Bharara, the US attorney for the Southern District of New York, the lead prosecutor on the case.
Franzen, 41, is from Illinois but now lives in Costa Rica where he works as the president of payment processing company serving online poker sites. He was facing up to 30 years in prison after pleading guilty to illegally processing payments for Internet poker firms; however the plea agreement calls for prosecutors to recommend leniency at an August 26 sentencing if Franzen cooperates fully.
Franzen and several other defendants were accused of helping to process billions of dollars for PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker by creating phony corporations and websites to disguise as payments to the sites by claiming they were to a fictitious business called "Green2YourGreen," which claimed to sell environmentally-friendly household products.
According to the AP report, Franzen has admitted that he illegally helped link gambling companies with banks by using shell companies and phony websites. He said he began doing so after he was first contacted in 2009 at his Costa Rica home by an Internet poker company owner who wanted to process checks online but knew that banks were not doing so and were not permitted to accept the proceeds of Internet gambling.
At the hearing, Magistrate Judge Kevin Fox asked Franzen if he knew how much money was processed as a result of his help. Franzen said, "It was millions of dollars, but I don't know how much.” Franzen went on to admit that the online poker sites actively utilized methods to circumvent the UIGEA saying, "To avoid bank restrictions, they used shell companies and phony websites."
Franzen had turned himself into authorities in New York on April 18, three days after the indictments were unsealed, and had entered a not guilty plea at the time. His lawyer, Sam Schmidt, declined to comment after today’s plea announcement.
Obtaining the cooperation of one of the payment processors, who can provide Federal prosecutors with the specifics of the operations over the past few years, will be invaluable as the case proceeds against the principals of PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker.
Average:
Select ratingPoorOkayGoodGreatAwesome
well the DOJ has cooperating witness now,, but i guess he had to try and save himself somehow tho
