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Ira Rubin Denied Bail

Ira Rubin Denied Bail

Ira Rubin was one of the people involved in the online poker industry who was detained because of the events of poker’s recent “Black Friday.” (In case you missed it, several poker sites, including PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, Absolute Poker, and Ultimate Bet Poker, and their owners and managers were shut down to US players by the FBI. Many of the people in management positions in these companies were indicted and/or arrested.) Ira Rubin, one of the defendants in the case, has now been denied bail, even though he’s stated that he’s willing to face trial. If he’s found guilty, he faces possibly 30 years in prison. Seems like a pretty stiff penalty for someone who’s only facilitating the play of an online card game, doesn’t it?

The case against Ira Rubin is that he helped poker sites like PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, Absolute Poker, and Ultimate Bet circumvent a law that made it illegal to transfer money to and from companies which engaged in illegal online gambling. Some gambling law theorists question the illegality of playing online poker, but the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation think these cases are pretty clear cut.

Ira Rubin was denied bail because evidence had been presented that he had plans to get a fake passport to move into Guatemala in Thailand. This seems like a credible enough claim given the amount of offshore contacts Rubin has.

The amount of money that Ira Rubin helped these gambling companies process is a tremendous amount. It’s impossible to estimate just how much money he helped move for these nefarious online poker purposes. He had access to banking accounts in multiple countries, including Cyprus, Panama, and the Philippines.

Ira Rubin’s lawyer has stated that the United States’ governments campaign against “illegal” poker is a huge waste of taxpayer dollars.

The defendant’s lawyer is named Stuart Meissner. He practices law in New York City, where he specializes in securities and stock broker cases, especially those dealing with fraud. His firm caters to a United States clientele, but they also handle international cases and clients.