Apr 18, 2011 09:17PM

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/money/51650236-79/bank-companies-payments-poker.html.csp

St. George • The vice chairman of SunFirst Bank was released Monday after a weekend in jail in the wake of his arrest as part of a federal crackdown on overseas companies that the government contends were collecting illegal payments for online poker games.

John Campos, who also is a part-owner of the bank, was arrested Friday in St. George on an indictment from a federal court in New York City.

He was charged with money laundering for allegedly arranging for the bank to accept payments through independent processors on behalf of online gambling companies.

Campos was released Monday by U.S. Magistrate Robert T. Braithwaite, who required him to sign a $25,000 appearance bond, report for all court proceedings in New York and surrender his passport.

Campos’ attorney, Neil Kaplan, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Kohler told the judge they did not think Campos was a flight risk. Outside the courtroom, family members cried and hugged but declined to comment.

Campos was alleged to have made a deal with processors for two of the three largest online poker companies to use the bank to accept payments from gamblers in exchange for a $10 million investment in SunFirst and a $20,000 bonus to him for consulting services.

A 2006 law makes it a federal crime for gambling businesses to knowingly accept most forms of payment for illegal Internet gambling. Because of the law, Internet gambling companies based overseas have concocted schemes to use separate processing companies to hide payments, according to the indictment made public Friday.

After many of those accounts were shut down, the companies allegedly found banks willing to take payments they knew were from gambling.