Online Gambling Settlement

Posted by & filed under Accounting Principles, Advanced Accounting, All Articles, Auditing, Financial Accounting, Financial Reporting and Analysis, Financial Statement Analysis, Fraud Accounting, Intermediate Accounting, Video Updates.

Poker Stars, the world’s largest poker company and its rival, Full Tilt, agreed to settle federal money laundering and fraud charges by paying hundreds of millions of dollars to reimburse online gamblers.

Questions:
1. Who were the founders of these companies and what charges do they face?
2. Through what means did the companies deceive banks into processing gambling transactions?
3. How did the two sites become the dominant sites for Web gambling in the U.S.? Did the companies plead guilty to any charges? What type of scheme was alleged?

Sources:
New York Times Business Day Live video, August 1, 2012.
NBC News. (2012). 2 poker sites agree to forfeit $731 million after prosecutors allege ‘global Ponzi scheme’ August 1 (Retrievable online at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/48433962/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/)