[Nate tha\\\' Great]

[ QUOTE ]
all our base are belong to Neteller - they hold the cards and are in a fantastic negotiating position.

[/ QUOTE ]

How so?

Look, the dialog that probably took place here is along the lines of the following:

USAO: "Cooperate with us, shut down your business to US customers, and comply with our due diligence request, and we'll see to it that your PLC remains intact and that you can continue doing business in the European market".

Neteller: "Okay".

I don't see how Neteller "holds all the cards" in that scenario. The USAO would probably have a good chance of litigating Neteller out of business if it wanted to (entirely out of business, not just the US market), but thus far it has not charged Neteller itself with a crime. And it probably will not do so if Neteller cooperates; its goals IMO were (i) to shut out Neteller from the US market; (ii) to intimidate the rest of the industry in the process. Both of these things have already been accomplished, and it holds the only hammer in this situation: the possibility of prosecuting Neteller itself.

Nor do I see how the funds are being held hostage. Neteller cannot really go off an abscond those funds; it would then face potential legal action from the USAO, the British FSA, its shareholders, and possibly its customers, and would probably go bankrupt if it tried to do that. In this regard, US customers are fortunate that Neteller is a publicly-held UK commpany.

There has been NO evidence presented that either side -- Neteller or the USAO -- has an interest in permanently confiscating customer funds. On the contrary, Neteller's press release would suggest that this is one of the common points of the negotiation. Although I think we can expect some lengthy delays, the largest risk to US customers is that Neteller declares bankruptcy, at which point individual customers are fairly low on the food chain. Today's announcement probably LESSENS the risk that Neteller declares bankruptcy, because it means that it is not willing to risk its European business for the sake of having at it with the USAO.