Baker Hostetler white collar litigation partner Jonathan New was quoted in the April 18, 2011 American Lawyer article, “Defense Counsel Eye Seats at Table in Major Federal Poker Case.”
On April 15, federal prosecutors indicted 11 people tied to some of the largest online poker businesses and moved to close their companies. Those charged by the Justice Department Friday afternoon are accused of operating illegal gambling businesses, as well as bank fraud, money laundering, and other gaming-related offenses. The government’s case, set out in a 52-page indictment, is part of a continuing effort to battle online gambling. The government's offense against offshore poker companies began with the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, enacted in 2006. The legislation’s goal is to prevent credit card companies from processing fund transfers for Internet gambling. The online poker industry in the U.S. generated over $1 billion in revenue in 2009, with two companies, PokerStars and Full Tilt, accounting for much of that revenue.
“The Poker Players Alliance and some of those other lobbying groups that represent poker companies have for a while now been very active, and they have been almost challenging the [Justice Department] to bring a poker case,” says New, who worked on the NETeller, PartyGaming, and Dikshit cases as a federal prosecutor. “They want to prove once and for all that poker is not illegal gambling despite what the government has charged. So I imagine that they're going to use this somehow to litigate the issue, but whether someone is going to be the sacrificial lamb to come back and test it, I don't know.”