A. Dikshit To Plead Guilty, Pay $300 Million Settlement To US Government

Anurag Dikshit, the billionaire Indian born co-founder and 27% owner of PartyGaming, the company behind Party Poker, has buckled under pressure from the US Department of Justice and agreed to plead guilty today in a New York court to online betting under the Wire Act. He'll pay a $300 million settlement to the U.S. government, and because no plea deal was cut, A. Dikshit could still face a jail sentence, although that is unlikely as A. Dikshit has agreed to cooperate with US authorities in their ongoing investigation against owners of Internet gambling sites.

Many see A. Dikshit's settlement as throwing online poker under the bus as he hands the DoJ its first victory against the owner of an online poker site when, in our expert legal analysis of the matter, they'd likely fail if the case went to trial under the Wire Act.

The squeaky clean Dikshit, at least compared to his PartyGaming porn biz partner Ruth Parasol, who is not settling with the US, is seen as caving in to the pressure from the DoJ the past two years because of constant fear of prosecution and to put his US woes behind him. And because he can afford it. The 300 mil is just a drop in the bucket to A. Dikshit, whose net worth is estimated in the $3 billion range.

Following in his footsteps is PartyGaming itself, which is in discussions right now with the DoJ. According to a PartyGaming spokesman today:

"The company's discussions with the Department of Justice have made good progress and it is currently negotiating the final terms of a possible settlement. On the basis of the discussions to-date, PartyGaming expects any settlement with the Department of Justice to involve a payment by the company of an amount that is significantly lower than that reported to be paid by Mr Dikshit. In addition, the company believes that any such settlement is unlikely to include a criminal plea on the part of the company or any director."

Both settlements are seen as good news for shareholders in PartyGaming as the company looks to put the threat of prosecution from its once lucrative US business behind it. Shares in PartyGaming jumped 13.9% in London today in response to the news.

Read more about A. Dikshit's settlement on the so-called Internet here and here.

Comments

[Curtis]

Can we use the 300 million towards the bailout money? If so i'm all for it.

[viticus]

no, god bless anyone with the name DIKSHIT! I hope this guy has like 15 sons. It is vital to the comedy world that this family stay intact for years to come.

this means nothing for online poker. other than, if UIGEA is ever clarified and poker becomes safe in the US again, party will probably have the first crack at it.

[Riggs]

This amounts to nothing more than extortion on the DOJ's part.

Party was the first to cease operations in the states (as far as poker goes) when the original law was passed.

The issue here is that poker will make the headlines based on the name Party Poker.

Seemingly they are threatening him on illegally taking bets via wire which was illegal before the UIGEA. (non-poker wagers)

God Bless Howard and the others if this gets worse. And all of us that play on our favorite sites.