DELAYED RESULTS FROM NETELLER

29 June 2007

Ongoing hassle with US Department of Justice blamed for late results

The embattled e-wallet Neteller has announced in a rare press release that due to the ongoing investigation by the US authorities, the annual audited accounts for the year ended 31 December 2006 will not be finalised in time to send to shareholders by 30 June 2007.
This means that Neteller is unable to comply with Rule 19 of the AIM Rules that requires an AIM listed company to send its accounts to shareholders not later than six months after the end of the financial year to which they relate.

The Isle of Man company suspended trading in its shares on the London AIM market in January this year following the arrest of its founders, Steve Lawrence and John Lefebvre, who remain on $5 million bail, confined to the United States and still untried on allegations of money laundering after 6 court continuances.

Following the arrests of the two men, Neteller withdrew from the US, Turkish and Canadian markets and embarked on a long drawn out dialogue with US Department of Justice officials from the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. This was done under the advice of its legal advisers and in accordance with court orders in the Isle of Man.

It is understood that as much as $55 million of US player monies remain frozen in the investigation, and an undertaking by Neteller to pay US players made earlier this year has yet to be realised. No interest will be paid on the frozen accounts, the e-wallet has advised.

Neteller hopes to finalise its involvement with the American authorities by 13 July this year, and the company says it is doing its utmost to finalise and post its audited accounts.

Neteller's ordinary shares will continue to be suspended from trading. The press release from the company did not include any news on its much anticipated debit card, promised before the end of June after transactions on the current Neteller card were frozen, leaving many users unable to withdraw the credit balances on their cards.

Online Casino News courtesy of InfoPowa