Long-time poker supporter Barney Frank has come under criticism from his political rivals thanks to donations received from online poker companies indicted by the FBI. The Massachusetts representative has received $18,600 in campaign contributions from PokerStars and Full Tilt over the past few years.

In response, Frank has publicly announced that he will return all the money to victims of the two companies, should they be found guilty. Although this was not made clear, it seems safe to assume that Full Tilt players will receive the bulk of that cash. PokerStars having already refunded their customers, leaving FT users playing Deal or No Deal online.

Despite the legal issues facing some of poker's major players, Frank remains bullish in his calls for online video poker to be legalized. "I was very disappointed to hear of the allegations, but it doesn't change my views. If anything, it strengthens them. Online gambling should be legal, so government can regulate it."

Politicians from the other side of the Democrat/Republican divide were less forgiving. State GOP spokesman Tim Buckley called for Frank to, "refund every nickel of the tens of thousands in campaign donations linked to online gambling," said. "It appears Mr. Frank is another congressman willing to associate with criminals."

The 'tens of thousands' referred to by Buckley include a large number of campaign donations from online gambling companies not included in the DoJ suit. Frank maintains that he has done no wrong accepting this cash and has no intention of returning it. This includes cash from the Poker Player's Alliance – a lobbying group who drew a large part of their funding from PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker. Other online poker sites like the Party Poker Download may also be included.

Frank also took time during his statement to criticise the Department of Justice for going after online poker, when more serious financial crimes are going un-investigated. "The U.S. attorneys haven't done enough about mortgage fraud. They should be spending less time on full houses and more time on empty houses."