I am beginning to believe the the US DOJ is instructing Neteller not to return funds to U.S. bettors.
The main motivation to doing this is the DOJ knows that if bettors lose a substantial amount, a lot will quit sending money offshore. The DOJ realizes they have been fighting a losing battle against internet gambling and the only way they'll ever win is if gamblers lose significant money repeatedly.
There are several reasons why I believe this may be the case:
1. The FBI has said some people might get some of their money back. It seems the FBI is happy to hold money it does not need to hold and rightfully knows does not belong to neteller. The FBI does not need cash as evidence. They are not going to walk into court with $55m in cash. They will just present records. Also even if the FBI considers Neteller's actions illegal, they do not consider individual bettors actions to be illegal and are thus holding money that does not belong to criminals.
2. When the DOJ has been called they have repeated that they do not return drug dealer money to the buyers. Only difference it would seem is that buying drugs is illegal where as betting is not.
3. Neteller really has little incentive to keep US money. Neteller wants to go on in its business where it is very profitable and withholding funds is only hurting its reputation. Also interest on all the US money is a small amount compared to transaction fees the site will make from elsewhere. It makes no sense for neteller to hold the money. I can see neteller ending EFTs as they were getting seized (You don't want to lose more). I can also see them losing their ATM processor. But they had no reason to stop P2P and especially non gaming transactions to places like babykgb. Assuming interest is not that much (It isn't) the only reason for Neteller to turn off non gambling purchases would be if the DOJ instructed them to do so to avoid prosecution.
It would not surprise me one bit if the DOJ is using Neteller to punish gamblers and it will not suprise me one bit if Neteller is never charged so long as they never return US funds.
I suspect we will get countless continuances and eventually some people with a lot of money at neteller will end up suing the federal government to have it released from the $55m that has been seized.
I did learn today that a bank can face criminal charges for processing gambling related money, but can not face criminal charges for processing money laundered relating to slave sales or trafficking of women and/or children. That is remarkable.
-Sean
The main motivation to doing this is the DOJ knows that if bettors lose a substantial amount, a lot will quit sending money offshore. The DOJ realizes they have been fighting a losing battle against internet gambling and the only way they'll ever win is if gamblers lose significant money repeatedly.
There are several reasons why I believe this may be the case:
1. The FBI has said some people might get some of their money back. It seems the FBI is happy to hold money it does not need to hold and rightfully knows does not belong to neteller. The FBI does not need cash as evidence. They are not going to walk into court with $55m in cash. They will just present records. Also even if the FBI considers Neteller's actions illegal, they do not consider individual bettors actions to be illegal and are thus holding money that does not belong to criminals.
2. When the DOJ has been called they have repeated that they do not return drug dealer money to the buyers. Only difference it would seem is that buying drugs is illegal where as betting is not.
3. Neteller really has little incentive to keep US money. Neteller wants to go on in its business where it is very profitable and withholding funds is only hurting its reputation. Also interest on all the US money is a small amount compared to transaction fees the site will make from elsewhere. It makes no sense for neteller to hold the money. I can see neteller ending EFTs as they were getting seized (You don't want to lose more). I can also see them losing their ATM processor. But they had no reason to stop P2P and especially non gaming transactions to places like babykgb. Assuming interest is not that much (It isn't) the only reason for Neteller to turn off non gambling purchases would be if the DOJ instructed them to do so to avoid prosecution.
It would not surprise me one bit if the DOJ is using Neteller to punish gamblers and it will not suprise me one bit if Neteller is never charged so long as they never return US funds.
I suspect we will get countless continuances and eventually some people with a lot of money at neteller will end up suing the federal government to have it released from the $55m that has been seized.
I did learn today that a bank can face criminal charges for processing gambling related money, but can not face criminal charges for processing money laundered relating to slave sales or trafficking of women and/or children. That is remarkable.
-Sean
