Double jeopardy for online poker player

A young online poker player who thought he had it made with a $800 000 second place finish in a major online poker tournament has been caught up in the Neteller e-wallet showdown with the US Department of Justice, with his funds frozen and poor communications the apparent order of the day.

Readers may recall an earlier report on the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure tournament in the Bahamas which was won by a 22 year old math student from New Jersey called Ryan Daut back in January. In the final heads up confrontation Daut's opponent was a young amateur player called Isaac Haxton who lost the encounter despite a dominating chip count initially, but emerged from the tournament with a cool $861 789 as second place finisher.

This week the YouTube.com site featured a sad sequel to the story. In an interview with a pretty laid-back Haxton, he revealed that he deposited his winnings in his Neteller account whilst he decided how to use the windfall.

In a cruel stroke of fate, within days the Neteller founders were arrested in America and the Department of Justice wrangle with the e-wallet started, resulting in all US player funds - including Haxton's - being frozen indefinitely.

And there it sits today, with only irregular communications from the e-wallet as it struggles to appease the Department of Justice officials despite its status as a fully licensed and regulated Isle of Man financial institution and British public company outside U.S. jurisdiction.

Adding to Haxton's anxiety is the apparent unwillingness of Neteller spokespeople to answer media questions regarding the beneficiaries of any interest that may accrue to the frozen funds, what that interest rate is and who controls the funds whilst they are frozen?