Neteller arrests update

Filed in archive on January 16, 2007

According to Gambling911.com, the investigation that led to the arrests of Neteller founders John LeFevre and Steve Lawrence had been going on months before the passage of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, which was rushed through Congress last September.

The complaint the Justice Department has brought against the two men alleges that defendant "STEPHEN ERIC LAWRENCE, the defendant, and others known and unknown, would and did transport, transmit, and transfer monetary instruments and funds from a place in the United States to and through a place outside the United States and to a place in the United States from and through a place outside the United States with the intent to promote the carrying on of specified unlawful activity." Neteller has been a favorite site for US-based gamblers for years, even before the departure of their major competitor, FirePay.

"Since in or about June 2006, the Federal Bureau of Investigation ("FBI") has been conducting an investigation of Neteller PLC, a company that is based in Isle of Man and is publicly-traded in the United Kingdom. The investigation has revealed that Neteller PLC conducts and facilitates illegal financial transactions between gambling customers in the United
States and numerous offshore online gambling businesses."

From Gambling911.com - "While many companies panicked and pulled out of the United States following the signing into law of (the UIGEA), Gambling911.com has long pointed out that the US Justice Department always considered certain activities illegal and that the passage of this new law would do little to change this stance."

This is not the death knell for US gambling customers, but it is an indication of how seriously the Justice Department intends to pursue those it deems in violation of the UIGEA. With the departure of Firepay from the US market, Neteller had the vast majority of the US gambling money-transfer market. It remains to be seen what the company's response to these arrests will be, as the two men arrested had left the company some months prior to their arrest.