The Seattle Post Intelligencer has outlined a case where federal authorities quietly seized alleged illegal gambling revenue from a money processing firm.
In total, federal authorities seized about $21 million in such funds in Washington state in 2015.
The first involved a Seattle Police Department investigation into Betus.com. An undercover detective in the operation had winnings transferred to a false bank account. According to the report, the operation allowed members of a Seattle-based U.S. Secret Service taskforce to seize $3.4 million from Thames Point Management, a money processor working with the casino.
The company, however, raised no objection to the seizure, the report said and no announcement was made by authorities.
The report said prosecutors may now move against a related money processing firm, Axia FX. As with Thames Point, the Axia legal action does not involve criminal charges, the report said.
The action coincides with a prosecution by federal prosecutors in New York which are pursuing criminal charges against suspects alleged to be involved with three online poker companies, PokerStars, Full Tile Poker and Absolute Poker, also known as Ultimate Bet.
According to the report, Thames Point and Axia don’t appear connected the poker companies, though several businesses identified as their customers were also implicated in the poker prosecution.
Court records indicate more than a dozen U.S. firms were investigated during the probe into Thames Point and, now, Axia. According to court papers, Axia, Thames Point Management and the other transfer services serve virtual casinos hosted on servers outside the U.S., according to the Post Intelligencer.
