Two former NETELLER executives were detained while traveling separately through the United States yesterday (Jan. 15) in “connection with the creation and operation of an Internet payment services company that facilitated the transfer of billions of dollars of illegal gambling proceeds from United States citizens to the owners of various Internet gambling companies located overseas,” according to the U.S. Attorney General’s office of Southern New York.

NETELLER suspended trading its shares on the London Stock Exchange in light of the detention of founding members Stephen Lawrence and John Lefebvre. Besides owning stock in NETELLER, the two do not hold any positions with the company.

NETELLER is an “e-Wallet” service that allows people to transfer money directly from their bank accounts to other parties. It’s the main service many online poker players and gamblers use to transfer money in and out of their preferred sites.

Here’s the complete release from the U.S. Attorney’s office:

Michael J. Garcia, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Mark J. Mershon, the Assistant Director in charge of the New York office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, announced today that Stephen Eric Lawrence and John David Lefebvre were arrested yesterday in connection with the creation and operation of an Internet payment services company that facilitated the transfer of billions of dollars of illegal gambling proceeds from United States citizens to the owners of various Internet gambling companies located overseas.”

NETELLER says it hasn’t received any kind of correspondence from the U.S. government concerning this situation, and although the subject line of this email (sent by a media representative of the AG’s office) says they were charged with money laundering, CardPlayer.com is working on confirming the exact charges.

Lawrence and Lefebvre each own close to 6 percent of the company’s shares. Lawrence resigned as a non-executive director of the company in October; Lefebvre resigned from the same position in December of 2005.

Although Lefebvre and Lawrence do not and never have owned an online gambling site, they join a small club of men who have been arrested and charged by the Federal Government for violating various laws concerning online gambling, particularly money laundering.

Executives with online gambling companies Sportingbet and BetOnSports were arrested and charged with taking bets over the Internet (among other charges) in 2006, but this is the first time people affiliated with an “e-Wallet” have been targeted. 

In October, President George W. Bush signed into law the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, which is designed to curb online gambling by targeting banks that cooperate with online sites. The Treasury Department is still working out the details on how to enforce this law, and has until summer to do so.

NETELLER is based in the Isle of Man, and neither Lawrence nor Lefebvre is a U.S. citizen.