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Will US Online Poker Players be Repaid Neteller Funds Seized by US?Fri, Feb 9th, 2007 @ 12:00am Extremely risk-averse US online poker players likely moved any remaining money out of Neteller after the October 2006 passage of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA), or particularly when reports of Neteller's inability to refund customers began to surface in January. But hopefully with all the publicity, not too many of you were caught with sizeable funds still in Neteller earlier this week when USA Today reported FBI Agent Neil Donovan saying funds from Neteller were seized and are being held in court as potential evidence in the case against Neteller's two founders, Stephen Lawrence and John Lefebvre. Yesterday, Neteller confirmed all this in their press release stating that "it believes that the amount of funds seized by the USAO or otherwise restricted by third parties does not exceed US$ 55 million," USAO being the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York which is handling the case against Neteller's two founders. Also in their statement yesterday, Neteller confirmed that their legal advisors met with USAO representatives on January 19, just as US-based banks began declining NETeller-generated transactions. NETeller itself learned of the court-ordered $55 million seizure sometime after that January 19 meeting. So- how can the US seize funds of US Poker Players from the British Company Neteller? And will Poker Players get any of this money back? First, at least Neteller is not going to run off with poker players' funds, since Neteller has had plenty of chance to do so already and hasn't, and they claim that deposited funds are still segregated from operating funds and that there is plenty of operating capital to keep the business going. Plus, trading of their stock remains suspended. All this indicates that Neteller intends not to disappear, but to stick it out and stick around. A company that is planning to continue in business suspends their stock trading while regrouping, so they can assess the situation, do damage control, formulate a new plan, then announce the new plan and then reopen trading on their stock. Regarding how the US government can seize money from a British Company- the US has a policy that any money or property acquired during an illegal act is subject to seizure. The US government claims to have the right to sell such property and keep the proceeds (you may even have received the pitch about how to make money from seized vehicles and boats being auctioned off). That is why USA Today quoted Michael Tew, principal of gaming consultant CapitalHQ saying, "The truth is that the money is in limbo and the companies are not required to refund any money until a successful prosecution or settlement takes place." Since Neteller does business with non-gambling companies, the government first has to sort through which funds are relevant to their case. So if you are waiting to receive a payment for writing a poker article, you may receive your money before anyone waiting to receive winnings from an online poker site. But no one has said exactly how long any of this will take, except to say do not count on getting anything back for a long time. Neteller mentioned to assist orderly return of funds to US customers that they are cooperating with the USAO, and will produce documentation likely showing transactions between gambling sites and U.S. residents. They also mentioned that "it is contemplated that the USAO will engage a forensic accounting firm, at the Group's expense, to assist in this process and to examine the Group's financial position. 'The return of funds to our US customers is a top priority for NETELLER,' said Ron Martin, Group President and CEO." Read Related Articles:
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World Series of Poker Event 56: Matt Hawrilenko Takes Down Bracelet and $1 Million The $5,000 Six Handed No Limit Hold'em event was the last event to be held at the World Series of Poker 2009 before the famous Main Event starts. Event number 56 saw 928 players register for their chance to win the last bracelet to be offered this summer. The next bracelet of the Series will not be awarded until November when the Main Event final table wraps up. Adding to the excitement of this event, there was a total prize pool of over $4.3 million, and the winner of the event was guaranteed to come out a millionaire.
World Series of Poker Event 54: Tony Veckey Wins Event 54 sold out in a hurry as 2,818 people gobbled up all of the seats for the last low buy-in No Limit Hold''m tournament of the World Series of Poker. This was a new event added to satisfy the enormous public demand for this level of event. $1,500 from each of the entrants produced a prize pool of $3,846,570, with payouts down to 297.
World Series of Poker Event 52: German Jorg Peisert Wins Jorg Peisert from Dusseldorf, Germany won the inaugural Triple Chance No Limit Hold'em event at this year's World Series of Poker. Peisert outlasted 853 other players who put up $3000 to play in this No Limit Hold'em event. The total prize pool was $2,357,040 and 81 players took home a cut. 81st place took home $5,892, but the lion's share, $506,800, went to Peisert. On the final day, Peisert started in 6th chip position and worked his way up to a chip juggernaut, eliminating players and collecting chips along the way. Notable players who cashed in this tournament include, Eric 'Rizen' Lynch (12th), An 'The Boss' Tran, Mike 'The Mad Genius of Poker' Caro (23rd), and Antonio 'The Magician' Esfandiari (24th).
World Series of Poker Event 53: New Orleans Resident David Halpern Wins David Halpern from New Orleans, LA won the $1500 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8-or Better Event at the 2009 World Series of Poker. Halpern outlasted 467 other players to win $159,048 for winning the tournament. Halpern has already cashed once this year (Pot Limit Omaha), but this is his first WSOP bracelet. The $657,455 prize pool was spread out amongst 48 players who cashed. Halpern battled William Kohler for over three hour heads-up. Battled is a strong word, as both players seemed enamored of each other and even went to dinner together during the break. They traded the chip lead back and forth until Kohler seized it for good. Other notable players who cashed includes Chad Brown (4th), Matt Savage (5th), Andy Bloch (23rd), and Norman Chad (32rd).
World Series of Poker event 49: David Bach Wins $50K HORSE Event The 2009 $50,000 HORSE event attracted 95 of the world's best poker players. The number of entrants decreased from the previous year which attracted 148 entrants. As play began, player's speculated as to the reason why the numbers decreased so dramatically. Was it the economy? Was it Scotty Nguyen's drunken tirade last year? Many believed that it was ESPN's unfortunate decision to not televise this year's final table. Even though the field decreased, the players still had a full five days of play. 87 players would be eliminated on the way to a star studded final table. After 20 hours of play, David Bach was proclaimed the winner of the 2009 $50,000 HORSE event. He took home the bracelet, the Chip Reese Memorial trophy, and the $1,276,806 first place prize.
World Series of Poker Event 55: Abe Mosseri Wins First WSOP Bracelet Abraham Mosseri from New York City won the $2,500 Deuce to Seven Lowball (Limit) event at the 2009 World Series of Poker. Mosseri outlasted 257 other players to win $165,513 and the accompanying gold bracelet. This is Mosseri's first WSOP bracelet and third cash. This was his 2nd final table of this year's Series. Mosseri and others amassed a prize pool of $593,400. Only 24 players got a piece of it though. Mosseri ended Day 1 in 13th place with 39,100 in chips. By the end of Day 2, Mosseri was the chip leader with 447,000. Mosseri maintained his chip lead through most of the day. It would come down to him and Masayoshi Tanaka, who started the day with second most chips. Tanaka had the lead as heads up began, but it was meant to be for Mosseri who played aggressively and caught cards at the right time to eventually eliminate Tanaka. Notables at today's final table included three time bracelet winner John Juanda (4th), Blair Rodman (5th) and Nam Le (9th). Daniel Negreanu cashed in 16th and Hasan Habib finished in 18th.
World Series of Poker Event 51: Carsten Joh Wins Sold Out NLHE Event Carsten Joh defeated a sellout crowd to win his first bracelet in the penultimate $1,500 No Limit Hold'em event of 2009. Joh beat Andrew Chen heads up to bring home Germany's first bracelet of the Series. The event began with a largely amateur crowd, and the big names that made it to Day 2 quickly found themselves on the sidelines. Men Nguyen, Tony Cousineau, and Matt Brady outlasted most of the field but failed to make it to Day 3.
World Series of Poker Event 50: Greg 'FBT' Mueller Wins 2nd '09 Bracelet The $1,500 Limit Hold'em Shootout should put to rest any questions about the skill required to play Limit. By the time the event was down to two players, it was a heads up match between the owners of the last two Limit bracelets awarded at the WSOP. Greg 'FBT' Mueller defeated Marc Naalden to win his second bracelet of the year, making him the fourth person to claim more than one in 2009. Naalden now has 1st and 2nd place finishes in Limit tournaments this year. He also cashed in a Mixed Hold'em event.
World Series of Poker Event 48: Brandon 'any2cantu' Cantu Wins After finishing runner-up at a final table a week ago, Brandon Cantu got a second chance to win a second bracelet in the $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo Split event. This time, Cantu closed the deal in a tough heads up match with Lee Watkinson and picked up the WSOP gold. Brandon 'any2cantu', known for his creative and sometimes loose style of play, was as shocked as everyone else when he turned over Aces more than ten times on Day 2. "This is the hottest streak I've ever been on in my life," he told Phil Hellmuth, who was eliminated in 14th place. By the time the field was narrowed to 25 players, Brandon had nearly 25% of the chips in play. |
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