If you were planning on making your fortune on your sofa, taking fools’ money in online poker, it’s probably time to think of a plan B. Feds are making like Eliot Ness in an effort to shut down offshore companies that let Americans subvert in the nation’s online gambling laws. G-men have filed an indictment against several individuals accused of operating illegal internet poker speakeasies.

Forbes reports federal prosecutors also filed a civil lawsuit, seeking $3 billion in money laundering penalties for disguising gambling transfers as purchases of items such as jewelry or golf supplies. To complete the royal flush, a federal judge issued a restraining order that locks up funds in alleged poker sites’ 76 bank accounts in 14 countries.

Poker enthusiast defend their pastime as a game of skill that doesn’t deserve classification as gambling, but the feds’ stance is that such operations participate in fraud that facilitates gambling.

U.S. Government Moves To Shut Down World’s Biggest Online Poker Companies [Forbes]

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