Bank of America Shuts Out Legendary Poker Player Daniel Negreanu
American multinational banking and financial services corporation Bank of America has closed the bank account of Legendary professional poker player Daniel Negreanu.
Negreanu announced on Twitter on December 23, 2015:
Apparently Bank of America no longer wants my business. They are closing all my accounts because I put too much money in them from poker???
— Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker)
Negreanu claimed to have received an abrupt notification from the bank stating that the organization can no longer support the amount of money he deposits and withdraws in a daily basis. Negreanu, poker’s all-time tournament money leader, is worth around US$50 million, and has been using Bank of America to manage his millions since the beginning of his poker career.
Interestingly, a similar incident occurred with the accounts of former American CIA drone whistleblowers Stephen Lewis, Clan Westmoreland, Michael Haas and Brandon Bryant in November, when banks indefinitely closed their bank accounts without prior notifications or explanation.
“My #drone #whistleblowers went public this week & now their credit cards and bank accounts are #frozen. Advice?” Jesselyn Radack, a national security and human rights lawyer, stated on Twitter. On November 21, banks and credit card issuers froze the financial accounts of the whistleblowers amidst controversy surrounding the deaths of innocent civilians in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen and Somalia.
Due to their monopoly over user accounts and money, banks have the ability to shut down, ban or temporarily disable financial accounts of customers. However, banks have begun to abuse their power by disabling the accounts of their customers without providing legitimate reasons.
An increasing number of supporters of both Negreanu and the U.S. drone whistle blowers are encouraging the use of bitcoin or any other decentralized currencies that allow people to maintain full control of their wealth.
The use of peer-to-peer networks has also proven to effective in processing large sums of money securely and quickly. Independent currencies like bitcoin, with relatively high international exchange rates, could be convenient for high-profile poker players.
Negreanu and the drone whistleblowers haven’t disclosed their decisions yet publicly. However, there is a possibility for an internationally recognized and multi-millionaire professional poker player like Negreanu to explore alternative currencies like bitcoin which enables quick and secure deposits and withdrawals.
