MONTREAL — Online payment processor Payza, whose operators were indicted by a U.S. federal grand jury on money-laundering charges and for running an unlicensed money service business, today discussed on its blog the company’s legal predicament and said it was "restructuring."
While Payza admits that all U.S. accounts are frozen and no withdrawal options are possible, the company said its services are fully operational and available at its new domain, Payza.eu.
Its Payza.com domain was seized by the Justice Department after its operators, as well as the processor's parent company, were indicted earlier in the week.
“Our previous domain [Payza.com] is no longer accessible, however Payza’s services are fully operational and available at our new domain Payza.eu, to everyone except for residents of the U.S. Our new domain defines Payza as being a European service,” Payza’s blog said.
“Note that Payza is no longer offered as a service to U.S. residents. This means that no transactions are allowed for U.S. members at this time, and Payza will no longer be servicing businesses registered in the U.S., neither providing U.S. payout services or U.S. based withdrawals," the blog said.
“Please be aware that Payza’s services are still available to businesses registered outside of the U.S. However, with our recent change of domain to Payza.eu, it is important that merchants switch their API to https://api.paya.eu and update their payment buttons to direct to https://secure.payza.eu from now on to ensure uninterrupted services.
“We hope that you will stand with us while we are dealing with these changes. For all our loyal and dedicated members, Payza is still fully operational and we will continue to serve you in the best way we can!”
Last week, Payza operators Firoz Patel and Ferhan Patel, who are brothers from Montreal, as well as Payza’s parent company, MH Pillars Ltd., were indicted and $10 million in funds were seized and frozen by the Justice Department.
The Patels are charged with one count of conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business and to violate anti-money laundering program requirements, one count of a money laundering conspiracy and one count of operating an unlicensed money transmitting business in the District of Columbia. Purportedly, some of the payments were tethered to cryptocurrency transactions.
Payza’s platform offers numerous payment solutions for an array of industries, including adult entertainment. Payza allows payments and money transfers to be made across the globe, accepting Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple and Dash.
According to the indictment, some of its customers were involved in Ponzi schemes, pyramid schemes and a child porn site.
