Poker : Karaka Declaration

Written on  4/24/11 By Recentpoker.com staff writer Anthony Aperman :

U.S. ONLINE POKER: WAITING FOR THE OTHER SHOE TO DROP
 
Speculation rife on the content of the still-sealed Karaka Declaration
 
Attention over the weekend centred on the enigma of the ‘Karaka Declaration', a still sealed document mentioned in the US Attorney's application to a district court judge for the forfeiture of banking accounts linked to online poker companies named in the Black Friday indictments.
 
Rosemary Karaka is a special agent with the FBI who has clearly been involved in the federal investigation into the activities of Pokerstars, Full Tilt Poker, UBPoker and Absolute Poker, and the contents of her still-confidential declaration could be the other shoe that the industry has been expecting to drop.
 
In his application to district court judge Lewis A Kaplan last week, US Attorney Preet Bharara certified that the declaration formed part of his evidence, building probable cause for the forfeiture of a range of accounts allegedly connected with the online poker sites.
 
Judge Kaplan subsequently ordered that Isai Scheinberg, Raymond Bitar, Scott Tom, Brent Beckley, Nelson Burtnick, Paul Tate, Ryan Lang, Bradley Franzen, Ira Rubin, Chad Elie and John Campos, their attorneys, agents, their family members, anyone acting on the defendants' behalf, all persons or entities acting for or in concert with or in participation with any of the above, and all persons and entities having actual knowledge of his Order, "…shall not take any action prohibited by this Order."
 
The judge also ordered that the application for forfeiture and the Karaka Declaration remain under seal until further order of the Court.  The application for forfeiture has since been released, although it appears that the Karaka Declaration has not, triggering speculation that further revelations in the case are still to come.