Neteller U.S. Players' Payout Starts Today

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Over six months of uncertainty to end - but no interest

It's official - in a company press release dated Monday 30 July, the Isle of Man-based e-wallet Neteller has confirmed that with effect from today US players have access to their accounts in order to withdraw funds frozen for over six months.

US accounts were frozen in January when the e-wallet exited the US market after its founders were arrested by US authorities and subsequently pleaded guilty to charges lodged by the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York.

Neteller wisely includes a warning that because the company is returning $94 million to hundreds of thousands of US customers, it will take some time for all payments to be processed, and it cautions that its website could initially be swamped. The e-wallet also issued a timely reminder for all users to be on their guard against phishing and other fraudsters hoping to cash in on the release of the funds.

The distribution plan follows the Neteller announcement of June 4 2007 advising that the plan had been agreed with the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, and that US customers may commence requests for the return of their funds from July 30.

US customers will be able to access their Neteller accounts online until 26 January 2008 to request withdrawal of their funds.

Players will be less pleased with the news that the six months hold on the funds in their accounts will not be recognised for purposes of interest - the e-wallet advises bluntly that in accordance with its Terms of Use, no interest on account balances will be paid.

Neteller will not charge fees to customers to process requests for funds. Funds will be distributed either by electronic transfer to the bank account on record with Neteller or by a cheque to be sent to a mailing address as confirmed by the customer. If a US customer has a bank account already registered with Neteller, funds transfer will be by electronic transfer subject to confirmation by the customer that the registered bank account remains valid.

US customers will receive the entire balance of funds in their account; no requests for partial payments will be processed. US customers cannot use their accounts for any transaction other than to request the funds.

Further information is available on the Company’s customer website, www.neteller.com, in particular the US customer update FAQs which are posted at updates.neteller.com.

"We are very pleased to start the funds distribution process today. I can assure our US customers it has been our highest priority and we'd like to thank them for their patience during this period", said Ron Martin, President and CEO. "The implementation of this plan marks another major step forward in the Company's recovery strategy".