Elie and Campos Fight Back!

Men Indicted by DoJ on Black Friday Fight Back

John Campos and Chad Elie

Many people from all walks of life are out there trying to redeem poker's reputation as a game of skill. But two men in particular, John Campos and Chad Elie, have a lot riding on the outcome – their freedom.

Campos and Elie were two of the men indicted by the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) in what has become known as the Black Friday crackdown of online poker sites. And they aren’t taking the DoJ indictment lying down.

The indictments issued by the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York on April 15th, 2011, accused Campos and Elie (among nine others) of violating the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) and the Illegal Gambling Business Act.

According to Nathan Vardi of Forbes.com, Campos and Elie have taken the first step towards fighting back at the DoJ. Citing the fact that the DoJ indictment has no grounds, the men are arguing that charges levied by the U.S. government against online poker providers accusing them of running an illegal online gambling business, have no legal leg to stand on. The reasoning is that none of the online poker companies mentioned in the case actually provided online gambling services.

The men have filed separate papers and one document states; “PokerStars and Full Tilt are not ‘illegal gambling businesses’ under IGBA because they are not ‘gambling businesses’ at all. To be ‘engaged in the business of betting or wagering’ requires that the business has a stake in the outcome of gambling contests, and the Indictment here fails to allege that the poker companies had any such stake.”

Former vice-chairman of Sun Trust bank, Campos, was indicted along with Elie, for supposedly acting as a payment processor who facilitated the flow of funds between U.S. players and online poker sites. The charges include illegal online gambling activities, money laundering and fraud. In their rebuttal, the two men have offered up some pretty solid points as to why the charges are bogus and need to be dropped by federal court in Manhattan against them and the online poker companies. Their main argument is that poker companies indicted on Black Friday did in fact not host any house-banked games (or directly profited from them) – which is strictly prohibited by the UIGEA. In part, their court documents state the poker sites merely; “charged a fee, known as a rake, for facilitated poker betting on their web sites that was related to a peer-to-peer game in which players competed against each other and not the house.”

Both men say that the government's goal to shut down the online poker companies by charging them with violating the Illegal Gambling Business Act is bogus. Why? Because they believe (like most poker players do) that poker should not be referred to as gambling; and while the Act names roulette, slot machines, bookmaking, lottery, and other casino games – poker is not listed. As one court filing states; “Online poker is a game in which the outcome depends to at least some degree on skill.”

The defendants also took a swing at U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, who has let it be known that whether poker was a game of chance or skill was “beyond his capabilities.“ Campos and Elie have stated that they were running their businesses offshore and that the state of New York has no legal basis to indict them – therefore all charges should be dropped.

This will no doubt be a long drawn-out legal dance, but it is good to see at least two of the targets of the DoJ taking a stand and fighting back against the injustice department.