Internet money-transferring service ePassporte (www.epassporte.com), one of the few so-called “e-wallets” that still allowed U.S. citizens to send monies to and collect monies from online poker rooms, has stopped doing so.

According to reports by numerous media sources, the U.S.-based e-wallet has discontinued processing payments to and from Internet poker sites for Americans, because of pressure from the U.S. governmnent.

Although ePassporte has yet to officially make a public announcement about the development, media sources reported that the e-wallet recently sent notices to various online poker rooms, informing them of the change.

The change was made, according to the notice, because of “a widespread investigation of Internet gambling, including poker, by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.”

The notice continued: “Although we do not believe we have done anything illegal, we do not wish to be associated with anything that might be considered illegal by the United States Government.”

Despite ePassporte’s public silence on the matter, several online poker rooms that did business with the e-wallet, including Full Tilt Poker (www.fulltiltpoker.com), notified its customers about the development, media sources reported.

“We have recently been notified by ePassporte that they are no longer able to facilitate deposits or withdrawals between ePassporte and Full Tilt Poker player accounts,” said an e-mail Full Tilt Poker sent out.

The move by ePassporte to disallow U.S. citizens to fund and collect from online poker accounts is not the first time an e-wallet has done so.

Payment processor PayPal (www.paypal.com) did so “voluntarily” several years ago after being pressured by the U.S. government.

Another e-wallet, NETeller (www.neteller.com) also did so, but only after the co-founders of the company were arrested by the Feds.

(E-mail Tom Somach at tomsomach@yahoo.com.)