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A US Attorney’s Office out of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania investigation has a number of online gambling companies on alert. But oddly enough it is all based on what can easily be seen as a cold case dating back to the year 2005 and is in connection with a now defunct payment processor.
A four year grand jury investigation focused primarily on a telemarketing scam with the online gambling processing activity surfacing as a result.
Among those charged are Donald Hellinger, the former head of Nylon Magazine, Ronald Hellinger, Michael Weisberg, Randy Trost, Jami Pearlman, and Michele Quigley. If convicted, they face sentences of up to 91 years in prison and fines of $4.25m. The charges include running an illegal gambling enterprise, money laundering and conspiracy.
Hellinger et al. was processing for a number of industry leaders including the now shut down BetOnSports.com.
What impact any further charges would have on an already decapitated Internet gambling sector in the US remains to be seen. Funds seizures are not likely since the processing companies in question have been out of business for six years now.
On Friday the industry received some of the best news in months with word that Congress is actively pursuing legalizing online poker with bi-partisan support.
- Chris Costigan, Gambling911.com Publisher
