While I agree that violating the GDPR is much less likely to result in being pulled off a plane than running a company that allows people to gasp gamble on the

While I agree that violating the GDPR is much less likely to result in being pulled off a plane than running a company that allows people to gasp gamble on the internet, your characterisation of the problem as 'federal crimes' seems to suggest that there was something much more nefarious going on than simply allowing people in another jurisdiction to do something over the internet that is completely legal in the jurisdiction you are based in. I could be wrong, but according to my understanding, that's not the case. The 'federal crimes', were precisely enabling US customers to gamble over their phone lines. That was enough to get a publicly traded company in a friendly nation categorised as 'organised crime'. The other thing you mention about how it's not a criminal offense is something important a lot of people seem to be missing. If you're violating the GDPR and someone notices, the first thing that happens is that they work with you to try to correct the problem, not that they hit you with huge fines and laugh while twirling their mustaches.