The US Deputy Attorney General has told law enforcement staff working under the Department of Justice in a memo that there won’t be any attempt to enforce a revised interpretation of the Wire Act until 2020.
Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen stated that he has extended the grace period on implementing the Office of Legal Counsel’s 2018 opinion – that all but one of the prohibitions of the Wire Act apply to non-sports gambling – until at least the end of the calendar year.
“Providing this extension of the forbearance period is an internal exercise of prosecutorial discretion and does not create a safe harbor for violations of the Wire Act,” the memo stated, indicating that the new stance does not preclude prosecutions of companies considered in breach of the Wire Act interpretation.
“All other provisions of the January 15, February 28 and April 8, 2019 memoranda remain in effect.”
