To combat the secretion of money via laundering, the Isle of Man developed its own anti-money laundering handbook.  Just a few of the the Island’s anti-money laundering regulations are:

Agencies like the Isle of Man Constabulary Financial Crime Unit  and the Financial Supervision Commission generally administer such regulations.  Despite this comprehensive regulatory scheme, there is still cause for concern that Internet gambling on the Isle of Man especially creates a money laundering risk.  The pending U.S. prosecution against the principals of PokerStars perhaps highlights this laundering vulnerability.

As mentioned at the May 9th “Asset Search News Roundup“, PokerStars and two other Internet gambling businesses have been accused of concealing assets in a transnational money laundering scheme.  Principals of PokerStars are thought to have participated in the alleged scheme while PokerStars was licensed by the Gambling Supervision Commission on the Isle of Man pursuant to the Online Gambling Regulation Act 2001.

The above-described U.S. prosecution involving PokerStars is not the first one with a suspected nexus between the Isle of Man, money laundering and Internet gambling.  As the press release below explains, U.S. prosecutors also previously alleged that the Isle of Man-based Neteller had been involved with money laundering related to Internet gambling.


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Copyright 2011 Fred L. Abrams