Baltimore, Maryland – setting of US TV cop drama phenomenon The Wire, and also, it emerged this week, the site of federal court action to seize funds belonging to Antigua-based online gaming company Bodog, long the scourge of US authorities looking to wage war on foreign internet gambling operators.

In The Wire, a crack team of Baltimore cops use elaborate means – wire taps, criminal informants etc., to attempt to reign in on the city’s violent but sophisticated drug gangs, but they continually run into dead-ends as their investigations inevitably rub up against Baltimore’s political elite.

As The Wire’s number one detective – ‘natural police’ Lester Freamon – often says, the key to the team’s investigating is to “follow the money”; which is exactly where real-life investigations into Bodog’s activities seem to have been heading in recent months.

Court filings at the US federal court in Baltimore show that authorities earlier this year seized over 14 million dollars in funds held by one of Bodog’s payment processors in the US – JBL Services, although the company’s owners deny that further seizures made from another processing company last month were related to Bodog’s US activities.

Interestingly, however, court documents also detail some of the Wire-like probing of Bodog undertaken by agents acting for the IRS.

Bodog first came under formal investigation in 2006, according to an affidavit filed by one IRS agent, leading to the start of attempts to ‘follow the money’ that included the tracking of bets placed with Bodog by undercover agents and eventually culminated in the seizure of cash from JBL Services in January and February of this year.

The affidavit says that the threat of Department of Justice prosecution and the October 2006 Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act means “it has become more and more difficult for Internet gambling website operators to move money into and out of the United States.”

“To continue to make payouts,” it continues, “some internet gambling operators have begun using money processing businesses in the United States…

“Typically, the gambling website operator will send a US processor a check or wire transfer of a relatively large sum of money… the processor then distributes the money to individuals, either by check or electronic transfer of some type. None of the transfers identify the money as gambling proceeds.”

The filings go on to claim Bodog has used several such processors to return funds to its US customers, including JBL Services, from whom the feds have now seized the $14m.

In a statement, Bodog owners the Morris Mohawk Group maintains that the seizure “happened some time ago and has absolutely nothing to do with the current payment processing challenges being experienced in the US,” adding that it would continue to ensure that all US customers would be paid.

However, the liability of online gaming payments companies in the US are clear – the UIGEA spelled out that it is illegal to process funds related to unlawful internet gambling, and even suggests payments companies themselves must take steps to ensure they are not processing unlawful gambling funds.

As Morris Mohawk CEO Alwyn Morris stated, "All operators outsource payment processing functions to third parties and these payment processors are subject to regulatory constraints wherever they operate, and, occasionally in the US, are subject to legal action because of the uncertain legal environment there."

But the Bodog investigations in Baltimore nevertheless further underline the determination of the US authorities to disrupt the operations of those online gaming companies still active in the US market, as well as their intent do so by targeting funds channeled through their payments partners.

The Bodog entity may admittedly be a fair way from the Barksdale drug gang subject to investigation in The Wire, but the actions taken by the US Attorney’s Office in Baltimore so far this year show that the company remains a target for US justice officials.

As Tom Waits sings over The Wire’s opening theme, “when you walk through the garden, you’ve got to watch your back.”

It’s advice that Calvin Ayre, supposedly ex-CEO of Bodog, is probably all too aware of.