UIGEA and Neteller update.

[johns1124]

UIGEA NEWS ALERT
The office of US Congressman Barney Frank, who is chairman of the House financial services committee, has confirmed that he is currently working on legislation to repeal the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act.

The news item appeared this afternoon on the Financial Times website and has been confirmed to eGaming Review by Frank’s press department. The details of how any repeal would take action have not been worked out and no timeframe was given.

Frank is quoted as describing last autumn’s Act as one of the “stupidest laws” ever passed and adds: “I am working on legislation to cut back on this internet gambling thing… I think it’s preposterous”.

While rumours of Barney Frank’s support for a repeal of the Act had been circulating around the egaming industry in the past few weeks, Frank himself had not confirmed or commented on them. Shares in PartyGaming, 888 and Sportingbet were all up this afternoon.

The FT says the mid-term Democratic victory in the US Congress brought some hope to the online gaming sector and John Conyers, chairman of the House judiciary committee, is also considered sympathetic to the industry.

But while Frank and Conyers are “powerful potential allies, it is far from clear that the lawmakers would have enough support to pass any meaningful legislation” because it is not clear “whether the votes would be there for a regulatory bill”.

The FT adds that the US treasury is currently drafting the rules to implement the Act but that the deadline for presenting them has been missed and is now expected in April or May.

With this; Im hearing the Charges will be Dropped against the Neteller founders soon. If not on Friday at the next hearing.

 

[sean1]

I'm hearing the same thing - very good source let me know charges will likely be dropped or substantially reduced to something stupid like a promoting gambling misdemeanor.

Sean

 

[AdamSelene]

Problem is, NETELLER (founders) case (years of investigation) pre-dated UIGEA, they aren't being charged with any UIGEA related offense.

BetOnSports (Caruthers) and SportingBet (Peter Dicks) indictments also predated UIGEA.

So if UIGEA is repealed, but NETELLER founders are found guilty of money laundering, does anything change?

Unless some federal judge comes down in a relevant case and decides that U.S. state laws cannot be applied to foreign operations, I don't believe anything will change regarding operations that have left the U.S.

Repeal of the UIGEA may only stop the problems of depositing and withdrawing from getting worse.

 

[Actionbrett]

[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica]Neteller in court ... Friday - March 16 2007

A hearing will be held Friday to determine whether the US government pursues its case against two NETeller.[/FONT]



---This is news to me! was anyone else aware of this or is this something that just came up?

 

[poopah]

Barney Frank is a good man, and I hope I am right but I beleive he is gay.Leave it to the gay guy to try to bring Egaming back. The more days that pass the closer we get to a new administration and that can only be good news for us.

 

[stevemost]

People don't mind losing money gambling....as long as they can deposit easily and get paid immediately. Hard to believe that just a few months ago having a Neteller Card and a few Sportsbooks to play with would be the ultimate luxury....winning is almost secondary to the inconvenience at this point....for some. The first Sportsbook that figures out a way to pay the customers ASAP will get all of the money. Players will find a way to get the money to them.

 

[JeffP]

Brett,

Many of us are VERY much aware of the hearing later this week. IMHO, whether or not the charges get dropped has nothing to do with UGEA. It has to do with whether or not money being handled within the US by the two founders constitutes criminal activity under the Wire Act (and thus money laundering.) Just my opinion but I'm leaning towards a deal being struck and this case never goes to trial.

If a deal is struck and charges are dropped what happens next (again my opinion) is up to Neteller. If honorable people are running Neteller they will pay out. I'm not convinced they are honorable people though. Honorable people wouldn't (IMHO) have shut off the ability for US residents to do peer to peer and merchant transfers. Honorable people might have allowed US residents to travel to other countries to collect their money. Honorable or not, people even remotely close to COMPETENT certainly could have handled things better.

If a deal is struck and Neteller execs drag their feet about paying out then you KNOW they are dishonorable.

So while I'm hoping like hell a deal can be reached I have real doubts as to whether or not I'll see another dime of my money. I say that because I've seen very little evidence in the past two months to convince me that anybody at Neteller is honorable.


-jp

.

 

[Anti-liberal]

[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica]Neteller in court ... Friday - March 16 2007[/FONT]

[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica]A hearing will be held Friday to determine whether the US government pursues its case against two NETeller.[/FONT]



---This is news to me! was anyone else aware of this or is this something that just came up?

We've known about it. March 16 was set the last time they were in court... the Ides of March.

 

[sean1]

The feds were supposed to have the indictment done Feb 14th. They were unable to get it done for whatever reason (no evidence, advisors told them not to try it for money laundering, needed more time, etc). They asked for and were granted an extension till Mar 16th.

My guess is the two founders get probation and a plea to promoting gambling and neteller agrees to stay out of the US.

If this case goes to a jury for money laundering the DOJ will lose. This is being tried in BROOKLYN. Neteller did not hide its intentions. Further Neteller was not operating in the states. JC got railroaded, but he got railroaded on taking bets, which he did. It will be much harder to railroad these guys when just about anyone on the jury will realize this is BS.

Sean

 

[poopah]

You would have to be a very dumb attorney to not get your clients off based on the wire act, considering the wire act is so pourly written and is so out dated.

 

[Actionbrett]

the US government will ask for another extension during Friday's control hearing involving NETeller co-founders Stephen Lawrence and John LeFebvre. So far the matter has been rescheduled twice.

Speculation that the government could drop its case against NETeller was strong enough Wednesday and Thursday to boost online gaming stocks Wednesday.

The court clerk's office told Gambling911.com on Thursday afternoon that "The government is going to get another continuance tomorrow (Friday)."

It was not clear if the proposed extension would be granted by the court.

 

[nimue77]

The court clerk's office told Gambling911.com on Thursday afternoon that "The government is going to get another continuance tomorrow (Friday)."

Grrrrrr This better mean they are working out a deal with those high powered lawyers neteller hired and that it allows/forces neteller to pay everyone.