NetTeller arrests

[2Tone]

Also, don't miss the last paragraph



Neteller BREAKING NEWS UPDATE

Neteller founders Stephen Lawrence and John Lefebvre have been charged with money laundering offences by the US Attorney General in the Southern District of New York.

A statement from the office of Michael Garcia added that Lawrence and Lefebvre had been arrested in connection with the “creation and operation of an internet payment services company that facilitated the transfer of billions of dollars of illegal gambling proceeds from US citizens to the owners of various internet gambling companies located overseas”.

Lawrence and Lefebvre were arrested in the early hours of Monday morning, January 15. Lawrence was arrested yesterday in the US Virgin Islands and will be presented in federal court in St Thomas by tomorrow. Lefebvre was arrested in Malibu, California, and will be presented in a Los Angeles court later today.

Neteller suspended its share price this morning as the news broke.

In a statement released earlier today, Neteller said neither Lawrence or Lefebvre had any current position within the company. The statement added: “The group has not received any communication or correspondence from any US authority regarding this or any related matter.”

Lebebvre left Neteller in December 2005 while Lawrence left in October last year, just after the passing of the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act (UIGEA).

The news of the Neteller arrests spelt more bad news for those operators that have not exited the US.

Said one legal source: “It’s a warning shot across the bows for those still taking money from the US.”

He added: “They are aiming their strategy at the finance provision. It is consistent with the UIGEA. It is a more effective strategy than going after the operators themselves, such as PokerStars. When you get the money providers, you get the portfolio of operators.”

One leading operator suggested this was particularly bad news for those poker operators that remain in the US market. “This could be terminal for the poker business in the US. The average punter will not be willing to jump through the hoops (to get their payments through).”

[Kurn]

The bold part above sounds to me like the feds have some evidence the accused have some connection to some US-based bookmaking operations and knowingly facilitated the transfer of funds from those operations to online sites thus enabling the initial depositors to repatriate the cash at a later date and make it look clean.

Just a guess, but that's what the language there suggests to me.

[Reel Deal]

If they don't have some evidence along the lines that Kurn is suggesting then they are going to have a hard time making this stick.

[GeoffM]

Sorry guys, give me a quick breakdown of what's going on here, I don't have time as I'm at work. Will I need to start emptying out the neteller account into Stars and Tilt?

[MAYHEM45]

Yeah. Get money out now?

[Talking Poker]

I see absolutely no reason to panic. Even if Neteller decides to discontinue business with the U.S. (worst case scenario), they aren't going to steal your money. You'll still be allowed to withdraw it. If you feel safer having your money on Stars (for example), then go for it.... but remember, just a few month ago, the Chicken Little's were all withdrawing their money from Stars because they thought it was safer on Neteller.

[MAYHEM45]

Meh I put some on stars and cashed the rest out to my bank account, which I was gonna do anyway, better to be earning interest on it. And if I need money on some random site quick, Full Tilt takes less than an hour to cash out to neteller. Better safe than sorry.

[Reel Deal]

I think one important thing to find out (not sure if I've seen the answer to this) is whether they were granted their request to suspend trading on their shares on the London Footsie. If that wasn't granted and the stock tanks tomorrow, well then things could get interesting. I imagine it was granted though.