Feds seize more Maryland accounts

BALTIMORE, Maryland -- As reported by the Baltimore City Paper: "As recounted in court documents made public yesterday in Maryland's U.S. District Court, federal authorities seized the contents of six Wachovia Bank accounts held by a company called Forshay Enterprises, Inc., saying the accounts hold gambling proceeds involved in money laundering. The move follows nine other gambling-related bank-account seizures filed in Maryland in July and August, six against accounts held by a company called Electracash, Inc., and the remaining three held by HMD, Inc.

"The affidavits supporting the seizures of all 12 accounts are under seal, so the nature of the investigation behind them remains secret. For several years now, however, the feds in Maryland have been pursuing alleged money laundering in the internet-gambling realm, and last year filed charges against two men, Edward Courdy and Michael Garone, said to be tied to the online gambling titan Bodog, owned by Calvin Ayre, a Canadian living in exile.

"Public documents available in the Maryland-based Bodog investigation show the lead investigative agency to be the U.S. Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigations Division, whereas in the recent bank-account seizures, U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) law enforcers are submitting the court filings. Most of the accounts seized are located in California cities near Los Angeles (La Habra, Anaheim, and Long Beach), though one is in Cherry Hill, N.J., and another in Sioux Falls, S.D.

"The most recent seizure case, which was made public on Sept. 23 on the federal courts online service, PACER, involved the six Wachovia accounts in the name of Forshay Enterprises. U.S. District Court magistrate Judge James Bredar signed the warrant on Aug. 28, based on a sealed affidavit provided by Richard S. Gunn, an Anne Arundel County police detective and ICE task-force officer, who requested the Forshay account seizures, court documents show..."