Lawmakers urge U.S. stop action vs EU gambling firms

[Mousey]

Lawmakers urge U.S. stop action vs EU gambling firms
Thu Aug 7, 2008 9:28pm BST By Doug Palmer

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two U.S. lawmakers have urged the U.S. Justice Department to suspend its investigation of European Internet gambling companies for possible criminal violations that occurred before Congress passed a law in 2006 to crack down on online gambling.

Rep. Robert Wexler, a Florida Democrat, and Rep. Steve Cohen, a Tennessee Democrat, warned U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey in separate letters the issue could lead to a potentially damaging trade spat between the United States and the European Union at the World Trade Organization.

"In all likelihood, this issue will escalate and I understand could result in WTO action focused specifically on how the U.S. government enforces its laws. I cannot see how that can be in the interests of this country," Wexler said in a letter to Mukasey on Wednesday.

European Internet gambling companies lost billions of euros in market value after Congress moved to shut down the U.S. market by making it illegal for banks and credit card companies to...

[NASHVEGAS]

Small world as I know both Cohen and Wexler......Both are liberal Democrats of the Jewish faith (I am of the same faith but a conservative Republican but will cross party lines).....Both are attorneys.....Cohen,from Memphis,was in the State Senate in Nashvegas for years and is best known (positively) as the the one who took on the good old boy network to get the State Lottery passed.......Wexler was at the University of Florida and graduated the same year, I think, as moi. In fact, one of Wexler's former roommates (one of my college buds) was in town from New York a couple weekends ago and Wexler was a topic of discussion......We call this Jewish geography in the South,lol.

[GaryWatson]

Nash, they sound as if they are smart guys. The US need to keep their own backyard clean before they call the fumigators.