Ex-NETeller Directors Charged (Update)

Published: Tuesday, January 16, 2007 Online-Casinos.com

EX-NETELLER DIRECTORS CHARGED (Update)

Money laundering offences claimed by US Attorney General

The case against two ex-Neteller directors arrested Monday in the United States (see previous Online-Casinos.com/InfoPowa reports) was outlined late Tuesday this week by the US Attorney General in the Southern District of New York.

Although they no longer have management connections to the Isle of Man financial company, Neteller founders and Canadian citizens Stephen Lawrence (46) and John Lefebvre (55) have been charged with money laundering offences.

A statement from the office of AG Michael Garcia revealed 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, who resides on Paradise Island in the Bahamas 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.

The charges against Lefebvre and Stephen Eric Lawrence were contained in two criminal complaints unsealed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan on Monday, U.S. Attorney Michael Garcia said.

The prosecutor said the men knew when they took their company public that its activities were illegal.

"Blatant violations of U.S. law are not a mere `risk' to be disclosed to prospective investors," Garcia said. "Criminal prosecutions related to online gambling will be pursued even in cases where assets and defendants are positioned outside of the United States."

FBI Assistant Director Mark J. Mershon said the multibillion-dollar online gambling industry was "a colossal criminal enterprise masquerading as legitimate business."

Lefebvre and Lawrence were charged in connection with the creation and operation of an Internet payment services company that allegedly facilitated the transfer of billions of dollars of illegal gambling proceeds from U.S. citizens to the owners of overseas Internet gambling companies.

Prosecutors cited Neteller's 2005 annual report in saying that Lawrence and Lefebvre enabled the company to provide payment services to more than 80 percent of worldwide gaming merchants. Together, the men owned as much as 35 percent of the company's outstanding shares, officials claimed.

Garcia noted that the company acknowledged when it went public that U.S. law prohibited people from promoting certain forms of gambling, including Internet gambling and transmitting funds that are known to have been derived from criminal activity.

Lefebvre and Lawrence also conceded in the company's offering documents that they were risking prosecution by the U.S. government, he said.

Prosecutors said Neteller in 2005 alone processed more than $7.3 billion in financial transactions, 95 percent of which was derived from money transfers involving Internet gambling.

Lawrence and Lefebvre, both charged with conspiring to transfer funds with the intent to promote illegal gambling, could face a maximum of 20 years in prison if convicted.

As we went to press there was no information available on whether the two men would be released on bail.