Neteller agreed to refund US customers
Neteller has announced that it has agreed with the US attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York (USAO) on plans to refund its US customers.
Neteller, whose two founders Stephen Lawrence and John Lefebvre are still on bail, said it was continuing to cooperate with the USAO and told the authorities that it would try to resolve the investigation no later than 13 July 2007.
Neteller said it had signed a Distribution Plan with Navigant Consulting o n 21 March to work out a plan to refund US customers and that it had now been agreed upon. The company will work with Navigant and the USAO to implement the plan once a date has been finalised.
As part of the plan, the company said US customers would be able to access their accounts online for a certain time and make a request for their funds. No interest on account balances will be paid and customers will not be charged processing fees. US customers will receive the entire balance of funds in their account; no requests for partial payments will be processed and US customers will not be able to use their accounts for any transaction other than to request the funds. Neteller said close to US$60m “had been seized by the USAO or otherwise restricted by third parties” on 8 February.
Ron Martin, chief executive of Neteller, said: “The agreement on the Distribution Plan represents a milestone in our cooperation with the US authorities. While we are disappointed not to have been able to return funds to our US customers at this point, we believe that the steps we have made in our discussions are significant and we hope to be able to announce further progress with the USAO by 13 July 2007.”
