Indicted NETeller Founder a Humanitarian
John Lefebvre is the last person you would expect to be involved with online gambling. The free spirited, bubbly, loveable "teddy bear" and former hippie was released on bail - a whopping $5 million bail we might add - Wednesday morning. Lefebvre and Stephen Lawrence were charged Tuesday for their role as founders in third party money transaction firm, NETeller.

Doug Ward of the Vancouver Sun writes: "To former Vision Vancouver mayoral candidate Jim Green, John Lefebvre seemed like a 'teddy-bear hippie, a sweetheart kind of guy.'

"James Hoggan, president of a prominent Vancouver public relations firm, described him as "extremely generous" and "one of the friendliest people you'd ever want to meet."

"Friends said his passions were giving away money from his huge fortune to worthy causes like the work of the Dalai Lama."

"It's a damn shame!" said one online gambling operator, who wished not to be identified. "With all these terrorists around, the US government is so concerned about going after someone as harmless as John (Lefebvre)."

Lefebvre may be a sweet lovable teddy bear type, but he's far from a slouch. Most industry analysts believe that Lefebvre, who himself is an attorney, will fight the charges lodged against him. The ACLU could also get involved in this matter.

Just over a decade ago, Lefebvre quit his Calgary law practice to busk in that city's transit stations, living off the change that landed in his guitar case, Ward writes in his Sun piece.

"A few years later, it was Lefebvre who was handing out money: Millions of dollars for projects promoting environmental protection, social justice, the arts and a variety of causes.

'There's a lot of irony in that. A lot of irony and I don't think it was lost on him," said Hoggan, president of Hoggan and Associates, referring to his friend's amazing shift from busker to philanthropist.

'He's generous in a very impressive way. He has a generosity for people who are marginalized and for issues that are marginalized.'

"Lefebvre donated $170,000 to the centre-left Vision Vancouver's campaign in the 2005 municipal election."

"If I weren't on some government watch list I would love to come back to the States and show my support for John in the court," said the furious operator, who now fears NETeller will depart the US market. "It is nice to see the US government has its priorities straight going after humanitarians like Lefebvre."


Could the US declare war on Costa Rica, an online gambling jurisdiction? They might as well.

The Doug Ward piece appears below:

'Teddy bear hippie' is unlikely multimillionaire

Doug Ward
Vancouver Sun


Wednesday, January 17, 2007


To former Vision Vancouver mayoral candidate Jim Green, John Lefebvre seemed like a "teddy-bear hippie, a sweetheart kind of guy."

James Hoggan, president of a prominent Vancouver public relations firm, described him as "extremely generous" and "one of the friendliest people you'd ever want to meet."

Friends said his passions were giving away money from his huge fortune to worthy causes like the work of the Dalai Lama.

They said their long-haired, shambling friend was passionate about playing his guitar, and noted the front room of his Saltspring Island house features black-and-white photos of his baby-boomer generation's heroes: Neil Young, John Lennon, Bob Dylan and Tom Waits.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is less positive about Lefebvre.

On Tuesday, agents arrested him in connection with his role in creating and operating NETeller, one of the world's largest online money transfer companies for gamblers.

The Internet has created many unlikely instant multimillionaires, but few as improbable as Lefebvre, a 55-year-old Calgary-raised lawyer who divides his time between Saltspring Island and Malibu, Calif.

Just over a decade ago, Lefebvre quit his Calgary law practice to busk in that city's transit stations, living off the change that landed in his guitar case.

A few years later, it was Lefebvre who was handing out money: Millions of dollars for projects promoting environmental protection, social justice, the arts and a variety of causes.

"There's a lot of irony in that. A lot of irony and I don't think it was lost on him," said Hoggan, president of Hoggan and Associates, referring to his friend's amazing shift from busker to philanthropist.

"He's generous in a very impressive way. He has a generosity for people who are marginalized and for issues that are marginalized."

Lefebvre donated $170,000 to the centre-left Vision Vancouver's campaign in the 2005 municipal election.

Lefebvre said at the time he donated the money, believed to be a record amount, because he wanted to help Vision's Jim Green in his bid for the mayor's chair.

Lefebvre donated $1.2 million in 2005 to the fine arts faculty of his alma mater, the University of Calgary.

He has provided funding for the David Suzuki Foundation, the Dalai Lama's new Centre for Peace and Education in Vancouver and has backed the West Virginia-based Future Generation's campaign to protect the ecology of the Four Great Rivers section of Tibet.

Lefebvre also gave more than $300,000 to help Hoggan establish a website devoted to exposing the links between fossil-fuel companies, critics of climate change science and the public relations industry.

Hoggan said he became dismayed a few years back that a few public relations firms were helping a small number of skeptics undermine the scientific consensus that humans are changing the climate by burning fossil fuels.

He talked to Lefebvre about the need to debunk misinformation about climate change and received a huge donation to start and operate a website called desmogblog.com.

Hoggan called Lefebvre "a very big supporter of social and progressive causes."

Lefebvre didn't grow up in an affluent family. His father, who was in the military, died of asphyxiation in a snowstorm when Lefebvre was three years old. His mother was a teacher.

Lefebvre was smart and popular in school and an excellent musician, according to Hoggan. He studied law at the University of Calgary, where he was also student council president.

Lefebvre was a classically trained pianist who loved to unwind from schoolwork by playing piano in one of the halls on campus, according to a 2005 profile in the University of Calgary's OnCampus Weekly.

Lefebvre worked for a big downtown law firm in Calgary but eventually grew tired of the long hours. He downshifted and set up a storefront legal clinic.

Then, according to the OnCampus Weekly, Lefebvre quit law to play his guitar on the street. "He was rather offended that any lawyers he knew would look away when they saw him on the street," recalled his mother, Louise Lefebvre, in the profile.

Eventually, Lefebvre returned to the law and, together with a former client, established what would become NETeller.

Besides donating to causes, Lefebvre has purchased real estate on Saltspring Island - where he owns three properties with an assessed value of about $8 million. He also owns a home in Malibu.

Asked why Lefebvre bought the West Coast homes, Hoggan said: "Peace, silence. He likes his silence."

Hoggan said he knows little about NETeller, but added: "I'm shocked [by Lefebvre's arrest]. I don't believe that John would do anything illegal. He's a lawyer and an old friend."

Hoggan said Lefebvre "didn't think he was going to be arrested but he was certainly aware of the interest on the part of the American government in prosecuting online gambling."

Hoggan was surprised also by the charges, saying Lefebvre is no longer a director or officer of the company.

He added that NETeller's headquarters is in Britain, where online money transfers stemming from gaming are legal and regulated.

"They've [the U.S. prosecutors] got a steep hill to climb on this one," said Hoggan.

Ex-mayoral candidate Green said he met Lefebvre three times. "I was very impressed with him as a very...what's the word? Normal everyday human being."

He recalled seeing Lefebvre in a tie-dyed T-shirt. "You would never know he had a lot of money based on his appearance."

"He asked me once to give him a tour of the Downtown Eastside and I did and from then on he was a supporter."

Green said he was aware of Lefebvre's online business when Vision Vancouver accepted his huge donation, but unaware of any potential illegality.

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Originally published January 17, 2007 1:09 pm ET