Federal authorities in the USA have frozen and seized bank accounts worth about $34 million that belong to 27,000 online poker players.

According to media reports, the office of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York froze or issued seizure orders last week for bank accounts in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Arizona at Wells Fargo, Citibank, Goldwater Bank and Alliance Bank of Arizona.

The accounts are managed by Internet payment processors Allied Systems Inc. and Account Services, which handle online financial transactions for online poker rooms, including Full Tilt Poker, Poker Stars, Ultimate Bet and Absolute Poker.

The seized monies belong to online poker players and are held for them in accounts managed by the two payment processors.

Account Services, which had an account worth $15 million frozen in its San Francisco bank, doesn’t accept deposits, but writes checks to players who are cashing out, said a lawyer for the company.

Because of the government’s actions, thousands of online poker players receiving checks from the company won’t be able to cash them, he said. ? Documents sent to Alliance Bank of Arizona by Arlo Devlin-Brown, an assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said bank accounts held by payment processor Allied Systems Inc. were subject to seizure and forfeiture “because they constitute property involved in money laundering transactions and illegal gambling offenses.”

The documents demanded that the bank treat the frozen/seized funds “as legally seized” by the FBI, because the U.S. government has probable cause that the gambling payments of U.S. residents had been directed to offshore illegal Internet gambling businesses.

“The FBI has authority to seize proceeds of specified unlawful activity without a warrant under exigent circumstances,” the documents said.

Former U.S. Senator Al D’Amato, who heads poker lobbying group the Poker Players Alliance (PPA), which seeks to rescind anti-online gambling laws that hinder online poker, said the PPA is “disappointed that this unprecedented action has been commenced against law abiding poker players.”

D’Amato added: “This money should be immediately released by the Southern District to ensure that player payouts are not further disrupted.”

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