Neteller is starting to show some public signs of mettle after weeks
of being perceived as allowing the U.S. Department of Justice to stomp
all over it despite its Isle of Man registration as a financial institution
and UK stock market positioning.
According to a news report in Legal Week, the British e-wallet has
hired the professional services of Clifford Chance - arguably the
world's biggest law firm.
LW reports that the legal company now has teams in both New York and
the British Isles working on the Neteller-U.S. DoJ issue, which started
in January when the American authorities arrested two Canadian founding
fathers of Neteller in the States, despite the fact that these individuals
no longer held any executive positions of authority with the company.
The two men have yet to be brought to trial, but the arrests triggered
an immediate and what is widely perceived to be unnecessarily subservient
reaction from Neteller, which barred US transactions to online gambling
sites and froze the accounts of US players. Later reports suggested
that the e-wallet was cooperating fully with visiting Department of
Justice officials. The company also suspended trading in its shares
on the London AIM market, a situation still pertaining.
Legal Week reports that John Carroll and Warren Feldman will be NETeller's
counsel in the United States, with David Lewis and Jenine Hulsmann
working on the case on the other side of the Atlantic in the UK.
The head of enforcement at Clifford Chance, Carlos Conceicao will
counsel Neteller on Financial Services Authority matters.