did EWX have only USA clients? Or did they also accept players from outside the states? A player from outside the US who had money stolen by EWX or the Feds or whoever, should have some sort of recourse to track said monies down.
At any rate, the whole EWX thing was very strange. Even with NETeller, some/many? players got their money back (paid by NT not the Feds, they don't give money back LOL).
EWX had many Canadian players, and they DID accept players from outside of this area. I got an invite for EWX through a casino, but ignored it as I didn't need to take the risk of having my money mingled with that of US players. Canadian players have also lost money, so what jurisdiction did the Feds have for seizing money that had nothing to do with the US?
The Neteller monies were paid back once an agreement had been reached, and long before this it had been made pretty clear what had happened, and what needed to be done to reach agreement. With the more recent poker room cases, the Feds made it clear that their priority was to get US players their money back, and that they would veto any agreement that did not contain a promise to return, in full, the balances of US players.
EWX is strange because the Feds showed no interest in ensuring customers, even Canadians, got their money back. These is also the extreme secrecy, with even now no public record of there having been a seizure of EWX funds, let alone what needs to be done to reach agreement.
There is also the VERY strange goings on with the EWX site post seizure, with ex EWX customers being sent an email about there being $50 in their EWX accounts, only to find this was a banner offer for a free $50 at a casino. The poker seizures came after EWX, yet it was back to the Feds getting US players their money back being critical to any deal.
The money in EWX has simply vanished, the feds say they don't have it, EWX say it has been seized by the feds, Canadian customers' money has been seized despite there being no legal argument for doing so, and 2 years on there has been zero further progress or information.
Something VERY dodgy has taken place, and no-one wants to own up. Bryan has been shown the actual seizure order, and Nicholas Johnson knew exactly what had happened, but said he was not at liberty to say anything, even though he was simply a merchant, also facing getting screwed out of money. However, by stating this, he was saying EVERYTHING without actually landing himself in whatever excrement was waiting for him should he make himself too clear on the matter.
With no public record, there is no official legal route anyone can take in order to make a claim for their money as a player, which would NOT be a violation of UIGEA as it stands, and would only be a violation in those states that have specific laws making the act of gambling itself illegal.
It is the dodgy procedures, and possible hint of corruption, that might interest the media, rather than it being a straight forward case of a company going under and taking players' money with it.
The Quicktender case is almost as dodgy, with the Feds going on record to say that the money has not been seized, but "stolen" by the parent company from QT accounts in time for the seizure to produce nothing. With QT still very much in business, and holding the money, the Feds have been referring customers to QT in order to get it back. QT set up a procedure for US players to retrieve their money that was designed to be impossible for most to comply with, after which they simply pocketed what remained and wound up the QT subsidiary.
It's not that dissimilar to how Purple Lounge and Media Corp dodged responsibilty for paying back players' money, even though there was plenty of money available to do so.
