More details have been released about the funds seized from Account Services Corporation by the Department of Justice.  Account Services has appealed to the US District Court of Southern California for action.

The San Diego based company used two bank accounts for the processing of transactions from online casinos. One account was managed by Wells Fargo; the account contained about $13 million.  The second account, at Union Bank, held only $1 million dollars.

The Department of Justice seized funds from both accounts.  While Wells Fargo was properly served with a seizure warrant, the Union Bank account was seized first and the two weeks later a warrant was acquired.  Some 13,800 players at PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker were affected by the seizure.  Both companies reimbursed their guests to avoid the frustration of their funds being tied up in a Federal case.

Unfortunately, the seizure show the incredibly hostile behavior the United States government is still offering online casinos and Internet gambling industry.  Part of the problem with this case, seizure warrant or not, there is hardly and legal grounds for why the Department of Justice would seize theses funds.

The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act does not go into affect until December of this year and there are no other federal internet gambling laws on the books.  The Department of Justice is claiming that the seizures have been made because the company is violating the 1970 Illegal Gambling Business Act.  This is yet another case of the government attempting to apply a law that existed before the invention of the Internet and is not exactly applicable.