Party Poker Founder Pleads Guilty in New YorkAnurag Dikshit is Fined $300 Million |
|
A co-founder of PartyGaming and its largest shareholder pleaded guilty to illegal Internet gambling and was fined $300 million today, and he agreed to cooperate fully with authorities as the investigation continues.
According to Bloomberg, Anurag Dikshit pleaded guilty to one count of violating the Wire Act.
Dikshit, 37, also faces a maximum sentence of two years in prison. Sentencing is scheduled to take place two years from now. Dikshit already paid $100 million and will pay another $100 million in three months. The last $100 million is due in September.
During his plea, Dikshit told U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff that he “came to believe” that he had helped break U.S. law and that he wanted to take full responsibility for his actions.
Dikshit was part of the team that founded PartyGaming in 1997, and he built its original software platform.
The United States Attorney’s Office (USAO) for the Southern District of New York has led the government’s fight against online poker and gambling. The office has charged several owners and operators of an unknown number of sites with violating the Wire Act and other laws designed to stop money laundering and gambling operations.
In January 2007, this USAO put the online gaming industry on notice when it arrested and charged the founders of publicly-traded e-Wallet NETELLER for helping facilitate gambling. By July, both founders, John Lefebvre and Stephen Lawrence, pleaded guilty to an array of charges, and the company was fined $136 million and also had around $55 million of its customers’ money seized by the FBI. The money was eventually returned to NETELLER customers after months of negotiation.
BETonSPORTS CEO David Carruthers and Sportingbet CEO Peter Dicks were the first online gambling executives to be pursued by the USAO. Among the charges levied against them was racketeering.
PartyGaming agreed to work with the USAO in June 2007 to limit the amount of punishment it would receive for violating the Wire Act and other laws. It’s unknown when negotiations will conclude.
Copyright © 2001-2024
CardPlayer.com. All rights reserved.
