Nanny State: Neteller's Open and Honest Conspiracy

18 March 2007

Neteller's Open and Honest Conspiracy

Anti-gambling crusaders go after online payment processors.

Jacob Sullum
Reason Magazine

Although Stephen Lawrence and John Lefebvre are charged with money laundering, there was nothing sneaky about their "conspiracy." In 1999 the two Canadians co-founded Neteller, an online payment processing company, now based in the Isle of Man, that openly specialized in serving online gamblers.

The FBI's investigation of Lawrence and Lefebvre, who were arrested last month and face a preliminary hearing in New York next week, consisted mainly of reading their public statements and using Neteller to bet on a couple of football games—a vice that in this country has to rank up there with eating a second slice of Mom's apple pie while listening to The Star-Spangled Banner. Yes, the feds really blew the lid off this publicly traded company that never made a secret of who its customers were or what it did for them.

The impressive thing about the case, part of the Justice Department's legally shaky crusade against online gambling, is not the evidence but the government's sinister spin on it. The feds pretend they're pursuing criminals while prosecuting honest businessmen for providing services Americans want.

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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

There are customers gathering to fight this injustice here:

http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/NetellerCustomerCoalition/post

Robert said...

http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/NetellerCustomerCoalition/messages