Players started reporting on PocketFives.com this afternoon that PokerStars is now processing withdrawals for U.S. customers. In a statement posted on its website last week, PokerStars revealed that U.S. cashouts could begin within “several weeks.” The world’s largest online poker site added in a message posted on its dot-com domain, “An agreement has been reached with the U.S. Department of Justice to allow United States PokerStars customers to cash out their funds. PokerStars will work diligently to expedite those withdrawals. All PokerStars player deposits are completely safe.”

A message from PokerStars that appears when players from the United States access the client announced the news to the world today: “We are pleased to announce that the cash out option in the PokerStars Cashier is now available. Please log into your PokerStars account and visit our Cashier to withdraw your real money account balance at your convenience.”

The news comes about 10 days following the indictment of PokerStars founder Isai Scheinberg and head of payment processing Paul Tate in the United States. The two men were indicted on charges that included conspiracy to violate the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA), operation of an illegal gambling business, bank fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering. The penalties are up to 30 years behind bars and up to a $1 million fine.

Around 3:30pm ET on Tuesday, the original poster in a thread in the Poker Sites forum gleefully reported his success cashing out of PokerStars: “Just did mine.” Another member of the community instructed affected players, “Go to cashout screen – you’ll see your available options there. Options will depend on the amount in your account.”

On TwoPlusTwo, players reported that the “Cashout to Direct Bank Transfer” option was now accessible to U.S. players and no longer grayed out. Meanwhile, Kevin kevmathMatthews Tweeted, “U.S. players still can’t cash out on FTP.”

PocketFives.com member Nole91, who hails from Atlanta, shared his successful PokerStars cashout experience in the same Poker Sites thread: “3 options were listed for me: 1. Echeck – red letters said some language about not being available yet. 2. Wire Transfer – didn’t meet $50k min. 3: Check in USD. I selected Check and it went through – confirmation email sent about 10 mins later.”

Post after post of cashout stories appeared, including one from a player who was still a bit skittish as to whether a check from PokerStars would clear when it reached him: “Obviously we are all scared about getting another check that bounces, but I doubt they would allow all of their players to cash out via check if they did not have a payment processor to make those payments. I had the option to use the direct bank transfer or a regular check and decided to go w/ the check, but I assume either should work fine.”

Still others who attempted to cash out experienced errors. One player who ran into a delay in the refund process received an e-mail from PokerStars that read in part, “Please note that due to the expected high volume of cashout requests, we anticipate a delay in processing and delivery of your funds. Rest assured that your funds are safe and we will process your request as soon as possible.”

Also sent in recent days was an e-mail from PokerStars to the press that explained that players’ funds were being safeguarded: “All PokerStars player deposits are completely safe. The Isle of Man’s strict licensing laws (similar to other jurisdictions where PokerStars holds licenses) require all funds to be held in accounts that are segregated from company assets.”

A Tweet from Alex UCBananaboyHuang (pictured) addressed what happened to players who had amassed Steps and Tournament Tickets on PokerStars: “Didn’t see it mentioned before, but Stars auto-converted Step/Tourney tickets to 100% cash value for Americans.”

PokerStars banned real money U.S. players within several hours of the indictments being unsealed on April 15th. Full Tilt Pokerfollowed suit shortly thereafter. Also cutting off new U.S. signups were the CEREUS Network sites UB.comand Absolute Poker.

Visit PokerStars for more details.