Legality of Polimedia/MPOE/MPEX/BitBet

[rikur]

It is very likely that Polimedia SRL (Romanian limited liability) is breaking at bare minimum the Romanian law in three ways, there might be more and some international ones too. First there's gambling without a license (bitbet.us):

Gambling License Romania
The authorization/organization of the activity of gambling in Romania is governed by State monopoly.

The State can grant the right of setting up the activity of games of chance according to the law, on the basis of a license, for the organization of each type of games of chance. The games of chance are classified as follows:

• Games of chance whose winning conditions are dependent upon random elements, with the use of gambling machines which are operated manually, mechanically, electrically, electronically, video automatically or in other similar ways. In order to play and win these games, they require the player’s ability or dexterity, light hand and also the chance, the hazard (the type of Atlantic pusher, Niagara);
• Casino games of chance
• Bingo, Keno type of games of chance, which take place in special game rooms;
• Sports Bets, Lotteries and Raffles , along with television Bingo and Keno;
• Contest-Games, with any type of wins, organized through telephone lines or any other means of telecommunication.

http://www.rolegal.com/romania-gambling-license.html

Secondly there's stocks/options/futures trading without a license (mpex.co):

All securities trading in Romania is carried out by brokerage companies called Financial Investment Services Companies (FISC) licensed by the NSC and established according to law 297/2004.

The law itself AFAIK is only available in Romanian.

Thirdly they are not following the limitations imposed on limited liability companies in Romania (polimedia/mpex.co):

Limited Liability Companies are not permitted to:

 - Undertake banking or insurance activities or any other activity that might suggest an association with same, without a licence.
 - Undertake investment business other than the investment of the company's own assets without a licence.
 - Neither solicits funds from the public nor offer their shares or membership to the public without a licence.

http://www.ocra.com/jurisdictions/romanian-limited-liability.asp

Could someone more educated in the subject weight in please?

[MSantori]

That is a big ball of crazy, and a lot to cover. What is your question, exactly?

[prophetx]

all they need in their TOS is something like this:

Disclaimer: We are not licensed in any country but XYZ.  If your country is not XYZ and it requires a license to do X, Y or Z, then we cannot offer you this service.

[rikur]

That is a big ball of crazy, and a lot to cover. What is your question, exactly?

I guess I just wanted to hear that I'm not the only one who thinks this ball of crazy might not be legal at all.

How would a jury start unravel the ball of crazy? Say if an MPEX customer came up and said that he can't access his equity, MPEX doesn't respond and the customer would file a lawsuit.

[rikur]

all they need in their TOS is something like this:

Disclaimer: We are not licensed in any country but XYZ.  If your country is not XYZ and it requires a license to do X, Y or Z, then we cannot offer you this service.

Their FAQ (for the lack of TOS) has no mention of country they are operating in. Heck, doesn't even have the word operate or law on it.

In case the domain is confiscated or otherwise lost MPEx will move to a different domain, in a different jurisdiction. Should the same happen again, MPEx would move to what will at the time be a solid alternative for a free Internet, be it the TOR network, namecoin or some equivalent DNS or any comparable solution. No government will ever be able to stop the Internet, in general. We're prepared to show this in the particular.

All they say is that they would move onto a different jurisdiction and that goverment can't stop the internet.

[MPOE-PR]

It is very likely that Polimedia SRL (Romanian limited liability) is breaking at bare minimum the Romanian law in three ways, there might be more and some international ones too. First there's gambling without a license (bitbet.us):

Gambling License Romania
The authorization/organization of the activity of gambling in Romania is governed by State monopoly.

The State can grant the right of setting up the activity of games of chance according to the law, on the basis of a license, for the organization of each type of games of chance. The games of chance are classified as follows:

• Games of chance whose winning conditions are dependent upon random elements, with the use of gambling machines which are operated manually, mechanically, electrically, electronically, video automatically or in other similar ways. In order to play and win these games, they require the player’s ability or dexterity, light hand and also the chance, the hazard (the type of Atlantic pusher, Niagara);
• Casino games of chance
• Bingo, Keno type of games of chance, which take place in special game rooms;
• Sports Bets, Lotteries and Raffles , along with television Bingo and Keno;
• Contest-Games, with any type of wins, organized through telephone lines or any other means of telecommunication.

http://www.rolegal.com/romania-gambling-license.html

Secondly there's stocks/options/futures trading without a license (mpex.co):

All securities trading in Romania is carried out by brokerage companies called Financial Investment Services Companies (FISC) licensed by the NSC and established according to law 297/2004.

The law itself AFAIK is only available in Romanian.

Thirdly they are not following the limitations imposed on limited liability companies in Romania (polimedia/mpex.co):

Limited Liability Companies are not permitted to:

 - Undertake banking or insurance activities or any other activity that might suggest an association with same, without a licence.
 - Undertake investment business other than the investment of the company's own assets without a licence.
 - Neither solicits funds from the public nor offer their shares or membership to the public without a licence.

http://www.ocra.com/jurisdictions/romanian-limited-liability.asp

Could someone more educated in the subject weight in please?

What exactly would be the link between these things, other than you?

[rikur]

What exactly would be the link between these things, other than you?

There are plenty of links, let me list a couple:

Link between BitBet and you:
http://mpex.co/?mpsic=S.BBET

Website : BitBet.us
Owner : Matic "kakobrekla" Kočevar and Mircea "mircea_popescu" Popescu

Link between you and Polimedia and BitBet:
http://polimedia.us/trilema/2013/i-am-the-best-customer-rep-in-the-world/

Link between you and MPEX:
http://mpex.co/?mpsic=S.MPOE

Website : You're on it.
Owner : Mircea Popescu

Domain Name:                                 MPEX.CO
Domain ID:                                   D39381757-CO
Registrar-Reseller Name:                     Name Services
Registrar-Reseller URL:                      www.nameservices.co
Sponsoring Registrar:                        ENOM, INC.
Sponsoring Registrar IANA ID:                48
Registrar URL (registration services):       www.enom.com
Domain Status:                               clientTransferProhibited
Registrant ID:                               AC44353FE543DA2B
Registrant Name:                             Mircea Popescu
Registrant Organization:                     SC Polimedia SRL
Registrant Address1:                         Dunarea, 13
Registrant City:                             Giroc
Registrant State/Province:                   Timis
Registrant Postal Code:                      307220
Registrant Country:                          Romania
Registrant Country Code:                     RO
Registrant Phone Number:                     +1.0731076827
Registrant Facsimile Number:                 +1.5555555555
Registrant Email:                            office@polimedia.us
Administrative Contact ID:                   AC44353FE543DA2B
Administrative Contact Name:                 Mircea Popescu
Administrative Contact Organization:         SC Polimedia SRL
Administrative Contact Address1:             Dunarea, 13
Administrative Contact City:                 Giroc
Administrative Contact State/Province:       Timis
Administrative Contact Postal Code:          307220
Administrative Contact Country:              Romania
Administrative Contact Country Code:         RO
Administrative Contact Phone Number:         +1.0731076827
Administrative Contact Facsimile Number:     +1.5555555555
Administrative Contact Email:                office@polimedia.us
Billing Contact ID:                          AC44353FE543DA2B
Billing Contact Name:                        Mircea Popescu
Billing Contact Organization:                SC Polimedia SRL
Billing Contact Address1:                    Dunarea, 13
Billing Contact City:                        Giroc
Billing Contact State/Province:              Timis
Billing Contact Postal Code:                 307220
Billing Contact Country:                     Romania
Billing Contact Country Code:                RO
Billing Contact Phone Number:                +1.0731076827
Billing Contact Facsimile Number:            +1.5555555555
Billing Contact Email:                       office@polimedia.us
Technical Contact ID:                        AC44353FE543DA2B
Technical Contact Name:                      Mircea Popescu
Technical Contact Organization:              SC Polimedia SRL
Technical Contact Address1:                  Dunarea, 13
Technical Contact City:                      Giroc
Technical Contact State/Province:            Timis
Technical Contact Postal Code:               307220
Technical Contact Country:                   Romania
Technical Contact Country Code:              RO
Technical Contact Phone Number:              +1.0731076827
Technical Contact Facsimile Number:          +1.5555555555
Technical Contact Email:                     office@polimedia.us
Name Server:                                 NS1.POLIMEDIA.US
Name Server:                                 NS2.POLIMEDIA.US
Created by Registrar:                        ENOM, INC.
Last Updated by Registrar:                   ENOM, INC.
Domain Registration Date:                    Fri Dec 14 18:57:56 GMT 2012
Domain Expiration Date:                      Fri Dec 13 23:59:59 GMT 2013
Domain Last Updated Date:                    Wed Mar 13 00:49:23 GMT 2013

I'll list some more later if you want.

[rikur]

Now please understand that I do think that govts are slowly becoming the biggest mobs in the world and we the people should start saying no. You're doing it by operating under the radar via Bitcoin and all my kudos to you, but I would recommend you to hide your tracks better or the bureaucratic machinery will take you down.

[MPOE-PR]

Now please understand that I do think that govts are slowly becoming the biggest mobs in the world and we the people should start saying no. You're doing it by operating under the radar via Bitcoin and all my kudos to you, but I would recommend you to hide your tracks better or the bureaucratic machinery will take you down.

So wait. Some guy has a company irl and also plays some online game.