This has been quite an afternoon for the online poker industry. The U.S. Department of Justicehas seized the domain names belonging to PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, UB.com, and Absolute Poker. When visiting the latter two, a message that read, “This domain name has been seized by the FBI pursuant to an arrest warrant in rem obtained by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and issued by the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.”

The founders of PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, and Absolute Poker were all charged in the action. They include Isai Scheinberg and Paul Tateof PokerStars, Ray Bitar and Nelson Burtnick of Full Tilt Poker, and Scott Tom andBrent Beckley of Absolute Poker. According to a statement released by the U.S. Department of Justice, law enforcement agencies and Interpol were in pursuit of the individuals in question.

PokerStars has officially left the U.S. market, although a refresh of its website around 4:30pm ET loaded it normally. Full Tilt Poker has not released any comment as to its future, but UB.com and Absolute Poker appear likely to stay, sources close to PocketFives.com reveal.

The charges against the site’s founders include bank fraud, money laundering, and illegal gambling offenses. Each carries a penalty of up to five years behind bars and up to $250,000 in fines.

PocketFives.com was bustling with activity throughout the afternoon, mainly in a thread in the Poker Sites forum. Several posters reported seeing error messages like, “We’re sorry, but due to government regulations, playing real money tournaments/ring games is not allowed in your area” and so headed to the forums to check for the latest.

A total of 75 bank accounts were also seized this afternoon and, as we tick closer and closer to the weekend, the Sunday Majors seem to be in doubt.

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara commented in the same Department of Justice press release, “As charged, these defendants concocted an elaborate criminal fraud scheme, alternately tricking some U.S. banks and effectively bribing others to assure the continued flow of billions in illegal gambling profits.”

Bharara continued, “Moreover, as we allege, in their zeal to circumvent the gambling laws, the defendants also engaged in massive money laundering and bank fraud. Foreign firms that choose to operate in the United States are not free to flout the laws they don’t like simply because they can’t bear to be parted from their profits.”

An e-mail and phone call placed to John Pappas of the Poker Players Alliance (PPA) yielded a response of, “Statement coming.”

A Business Insider articlerevealed that indicted payment processor Daniel Tzvetkoff may be behind today’s rash of seizures. The article succinctly explains, “After a ‘secret’ meeting with prosecutors, he was suddenly out on bail. And now, his former colleagues are the ones facing serious jail time. Daniel Tzvetkoff knows the operations of these poker sites inside and out. He’s the one man positioned to give these companies to the U.S. Attorneys on a silver platter. And it looks like that’s exactly what he did, cooperating with the authorities to avoid his own lengthy jail sentence.”

The U.S. Department of Justice statement adds that the money destined for the various online poker sites in question was “disguised as payments to hundreds of non-existent online merchants purporting to sell merchandise such as jewelry and golf balls.”

We’ll have more for you soon right here on PocketFives.com.