Ibill - going down for the count?

DaveAFX · 10-30-2003

Funny. I just came back from the bathroom to see your post about IBill. I was reading this while I was in there ( in Forbes )

http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2003/1110/056.html

Wages of Sin
Seth Lubove, 11.10.03

How escort services--often prostitution rings--depend on the kindness of some big credit card companies.
Arthur Vanmoor is no one's idea of a model citizen. He's currently residing in the Broward County, Fla. jail on charges (which he denies) of pimping, money laundering and immigration violations. The inventive Dutch native, who owns patents on a male chastity belt contraption, a cure for hangovers, a caulking gun and a sulfur-based treatment for male impotence, once ran what he boasted was the nation's largest female escort service, with $5 million in annual sales.

But none of those facts stopped Cardservice International from soliciting his soliciting business in 1996. Cardservice, which lines up banks to process credit cards for small companies, eventually ran as much as $50,000 a week for Vanmoor's $200-an-hour escort service, at rates as high as triple those for lower-risk businesses. Until two years ago, that is, when Cardservice abruptly canceled Vanmoor's business, citing too many complaints of unauthorized charges.

Vanmoor sued, claiming Cardservice, MasterCard International and the bank that processed his credit cards, Humboldt Bancorp of Roseville, Calif., illegally withheld $150,000 of his money. Despite having to testify on tape because he's in jail, and allegations that he was really running a prostitution ring, Vanmoor convinced a Los Angeles jury in August to award him his money, plus another $3 million in punitive damages. Humboldt plans to challenge the verdict.

The case did not bathe the credit card industry in good publicity. At the trial Cardservice admitted it was processing credit cards for 143 escort services. For Cardservice's parent company, $7.6 billion (2002 sales) First Data Corp., the revelations are doubly embarrassing. The company's First Financial Bank unit is already known as one of the nation's largest credit card processors for Internet porn, handling payments for big aggregators of porn-site payments such as InterCept's Internet Billing Co. unit and Paycom. The company refuses to comment on Vanmoor beyond a statement that it "processes for a variety of businesses" and ensures "our clients transact payments legitimately."

First Data isn't alone when it comes to finding itself in bed with escort services. Ebay's PayPal payment exchange service is also a favorite among Internet escort sites, despite the fact that PayPal prohibits its use for "adult" or "sexually oriented" goods. Jessica, of Southern Belle Escorts, a busty redhead who poses nude on her Web site advertising a $285 "one on one," will be happy to take your payment through PayPal.

10-30-2003	#3
DaveAFX Members Join Date: Nov 2002 Posts: 103	Funny. I just came back from the bathroom to see your post about IBill. I was reading this while I was in there ( in Forbes ) http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2003/1110/056.html Wages of Sin Seth Lubove, 11.10.03 How escort services--often prostitution rings--depend on the kindness of some big credit card companies. Arthur Vanmoor is no one's idea of a model citizen. He's currently residing in the Broward County, Fla. jail on charges (which he denies) of pimping, money laundering and immigration violations. The inventive Dutch native, who owns patents on a male chastity belt contraption, a cure for hangovers, a caulking gun and a sulfur-based treatment for male impotence, once ran what he boasted was the nation's largest female escort service, with $5 million in annual sales. But none of those facts stopped Cardservice International from soliciting his soliciting business in 1996. Cardservice, which lines up banks to process credit cards for small companies, eventually ran as much as $50,000 a week for Vanmoor's $200-an-hour escort service, at rates as high as triple those for lower-risk businesses. Until two years ago, that is, when Cardservice abruptly canceled Vanmoor's business, citing too many complaints of unauthorized charges. Vanmoor sued, claiming Cardservice, MasterCard International and the bank that processed his credit cards, Humboldt Bancorp of Roseville, Calif., illegally withheld $150,000 of his money. Despite having to testify on tape because he's in jail, and allegations that he was really running a prostitution ring, Vanmoor convinced a Los Angeles jury in August to award him his money, plus another $3 million in punitive damages. Humboldt plans to challenge the verdict. The case did not bathe the credit card industry in good publicity. At the trial Cardservice admitted it was processing credit cards for 143 escort services. For Cardservice's parent company, $7.6 billion (2002 sales) First Data Corp., the revelations are doubly embarrassing. The company's First Financial Bank unit is already known as one of the nation's largest credit card processors for Internet porn, handling payments for big aggregators of porn-site payments such as InterCept's Internet Billing Co. unit and Paycom. The company refuses to comment on Vanmoor beyond a statement that it "processes for a variety of businesses" and ensures "our clients transact payments legitimately." First Data isn't alone when it comes to finding itself in bed with escort services. Ebay's PayPal payment exchange service is also a favorite among Internet escort sites, despite the fact that PayPal prohibits its use for "adult" or "sexually oriented" goods. Jessica, of Southern Belle Escorts, a busty redhead who poses nude on her Web site advertising a $285 "one on one," will be happy to take your payment through PayPal.