Everleaf Gaming Issues First Statement Since Exiting U.S. Market
After two weeks of silence following its swift exit from the U.S. market, Everleaf Gaming has released an official statement confirming that player funds have been seized by U.S. authorities.
According to a seizure order from the U.S. District Court of the Western District of Washington, investigators were tracking the transactions of one of Everleaf's payment processors, Causash Establishment. Last October, a warrant was issued ordering Bank of New York Mellon to seize all incoming and outgoing wire transfers on behalf of Causash Establishment for 14 days.
On Feb. 9, players residing in the U.S. were prohibited from using any of Everleaf's 100-plus skins after the company received a cease and desist order from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Everleaf Gaming was silent regarding the stoppage, but the company issued the following press release on Thursday:
As has been reported, certain funds maintained by one of our payment processors to be distributed to U.S. customers were seized by U.S. authorities. To our knowledge, the U.S. authorities seized these funds and blocked the transactions based on purported violations of certain U.S. laws, including operating an illegal money transmitting business, the Wire Act, and money laundering. Evidence relative to the subject can be reviewed from the attached papers.
Please be advised that this seizure occurred in the United States and only affects U.S. players.
In view of the above, Everleaf will no longer accept U.S. players. Nonetheless, Everleaf reiterates and wants to reassure all the effected players that all the funds will be refunded in full and the effected parties will be contacted in a short while accordingly.
For the other markets we operate in and with regards to all our other players we want to reassure you that nothing has changed and thank you for the continued business with our Company.
We sincerely apologize for the lack of communication to date, but as a Company we were still trying to find our feet and assessing the situation at hand and how to best protect the interest of all the effected parties.
Everleaf Gaming did not state how much is owed to U.S. players or how the money would be refunded, but the company says that all player funds are covered and in line with the conditions of the company's Maltese gaming license.
PokerNews will bring you more on this story as it develops.
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