Web Co. Founder Faces Money Charges
By MAT PROBASCO Associated Press Writer
© 2007 The Associated Press
CHARLOTTE AMALIE, U.S. Virgin Islands — A Canadian man who founded a company that processes Internet gambling transactions was led into a U.S. Virgin Islands court in ankle chains to face money laundering charges on Wednesday.
Stephen Eric Lawrence, 46, was accused of funneling billions of dollars in illegal gambling proceeds to overseas betting operations. The former Neteller PLC director was arrested on the island of St. John on Monday on a warrant from the U.S. Attorney's office in New York, said FBI agent Donald A. Neily.
District Court Judge Geoffrey Barnard said he intended to set bail at $5 million. Bail would be set in a Thursday hearing, he said.
Lawrence, who lives in the Bahamas, and John David Lefebvre, 55, are former directors of the Internet payment services company, a type which has grown in popularity as an increasing number of credit card companies have begun refusing to accept payments to online gambling sites.
Lefebvre was arrested Monday in Malibu, California. Both men are Canadian citizens.
In 1999, the men founded Neteller, which is based in the Isle of Man and is publicly traded in the United Kingdom. The company began processing Internet gambling transactions in 2000.
Lawrence left the company's board of directors in October, while Lefebvre left in December 2005, prosecutors said. Together, the men owned as much as 35 percent of the company's outstanding shares.
Prosecutors cited Neteller's 2005 annual report in saying that Lawrence and Lefebvre enabled the company to provide payment services to more than 80 percent of worldwide gaming merchants.
Prosecutors in New York said Neteller in 2005 alone processed more than $7.3 billion in financial transactions, 95 percent of which was derived from money transfers involving Internet gambling.
Lawrence and Lefebvre were charged with conspiring to transfer funds with the intent to promote illegal gambling, and could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted, authorities said.  |