Good news has come for all the US poker players who have had their money seized from their NETeller accounts. The online wallet will pay $136 million to the US government in restitution, which brings the end of the problems ever closer. The company admitted that they ‘had operated in the US an unlicensed money transmitting business and had participated in the performance of financial transactions for the purpose of promoting unlawful transactions between Internet gambling merchants and persons located in the US.’
Therefore the problems between the US government and NETeller will soon be resolved, and the seized funds will be able to be retrieved by the players in the near future. It is estimated that customers will be able to log into their NETeller account by the 30th of July and withdraw any remaining funds left in their accounts. The exact date will soon be posted on the NETeller website, and customers will also be contacted via email of this date. This is a great relief, as poker players that once used NETeller have not been able to get their hands on their money since January of this year.
This is what the CEO of NETeller, Ron Martin, has said about the situation:
“We anticipate within the next few weeks that we will have fully implemented the plan for the return of funds to our U.S. customers and are hopeful that, by that time, we will have restored the Company’s shares to trading on AIM. We can now begin to refocus our efforts on building and strengthening the NETELLER business in the growing markets of the European and Asia Pacific regions.”
As you can see, the company still has strong intentions as developing as a business, and expanding into more foreign markets. If you live outside the US, you should not encounter any similar problems that American citizens have experienced, although a lot of doubt has already been cast in many peoples minds as they look for alternative deposit methods.
As a result of NETeller paying the $136 million fine, they will not be prosecuted for any federal crime. However, the two co-founders of the company John Lefebvre and Steven Lawrence may face up to 5 years in prison along with fines in the realms of millions of dollars. In spite of this, it is unlikely that they will receive the maximum sentence, as they have taken an active role in the investigations between American gamblers and offshore online casinos and poker rooms and have already pleaded guilty to the charges brought against them.
