Poker Stars Chief Executive Officer to Pay $50 million to US Government
This was published 15-06-2013Marc Scheinberg, the Chief Executive Officer of Poker Stars Online Poker Room and son of Poker Star’s founder, Isai Scheinberg, has reportedly struck a deal with the United States Department of Justice with regard to charges that were brought against him following Black Friday in April, 2011.
In terms of the agreement, Scheinberg will agree to pay $50 million to the United States Government and in return he will not be required to admit any wrongdoing nor face any seizure or forfeiture of property that stems from his role at Poker Stars.
Scheinberg will also not be required to face any civil charge against him related to Black Friday.
The deal will also have no impact on the pre-existing deal between the Department of Justice and Poker Stars when a settlement was reached for the online poker room to pay an amount of $731 million to the authorities in order to settle a money laundering suite that also stems from Black Friday. As part of this deal, Poker Stars had agreed to acquire its chief rival, Full Tilt Poker and to reimburse all players who had had their funds frozen because of Full Tilt Poker. Although non-US players have had their money reimbursed to them, US players still do not know when they will be refunded.
Scheinberg was never charged by the Department of Justice with any crime nor did he appear in any of the civil indictments connected to Black Friday.
Commenting on Scheinberg’s deal with the authorities, Poker Stars issued an official statement saying “Chief Executive Officer of Poker Stars Agrees to Pay $50mm to United States Government “This forfeiture settles potential claims against Mark’s assets based on the allegations contained in the April 15th 2011 US Government complaint against Poker Stars. The agreement is not in response to any action that had been brought against Mark and contains no admission of wrongdoing”
