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Lena Evans of PLON Takes on PayPal in Class Action

Written by Jennifer Newell
Last updated on
Jennifer Newell

Chris Moneymaker made the initial snowball. Mike Matusow teased being a part of it. But it’s Lena Evans, founder of Poker League of Nations, who is rolling that snowball down the hill. Evans is the first-named plaintiff in a class action lawsuit against PayPal, a giant in online payment processing systems.

Using His Platform

When Moneymaker first discovered the power of PayPal, he wanted the money that they seized from him.

It was a sum exceeding $12K in his PayPal account that he collected from friends for a fantasy football league. They pooled the money to be doled out after the 2020 NFL season determined their league winners. But in November 2020, PayPal froze Moneymaker’s account to conduct a 180-day investigation. But that “investigation” ended in April 2021 with a simple note that Moneymaker violated PayPal’s terms of service. And PayPal confiscated the entire $12,228.55.

Attempts to contact PayPal were unsuccessful.

Moneymaker realized that PayPal could do this to anyone, simply conduct claim a violation and confiscate funds. The general public had no way to fight back. So, he approached Eric Bensamochan, a Beverly Hills attorney, about suing PayPal.

As they made known on social media that they were looking into a class action lawsuit, PayPal suddenly refunded Moneymaker’s money as a “refund of AUP violations.”

However, by that point, Moneymaker’s significant platform had attracted people with similar stories from all walks of life.

Snowball Grows

The people who contacted Bensamochan and Moneymaker all had similar stories. They continued to accumulate information, Bensamochan even hiring more staff just to deal with the influx. At that time, he told us, “Mr. Moneymaker will continue to consult with the Bensamochan Law Firm in proceeding with the class action on behalf of the thousands and thousands of people who have had their hard-earned money seized at will and with impunity by PayPal.”

Moneymaker noted that PayPal’s process by which they seized funds was “immoral and illegal.” He said that he would continue to help with the lawsuit in any way he could. “IT’s about the principal of stealing other people’s money and hiding behind thousands of words of legal mumbo jumbo that no one reads.”

Mike Matusow chimed in to note that PayPal took $11K from him. The stories came from around the world and from a wide range of industries. While Matusow didn’t end up as one of the litigants from the start, the Bensamochan Law Firm researched all potential litigants.

As 2021 came to an end, Bensamochan put the finishing touches on the class action lawsuit.

Filing in California

On January 13, 2022, the Bensamochan Law Firm and Schreiber & Schreiber filed the class action complaint in the US District Court of the Northern District of California. The plaintiffs are “Lena Evans, Roni Shemtov, and Shbadan Akylbekov, individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated,” and the defendants are PayPal and “Does 1-25, inclusive.”

The complaints are:

-1. Conversion

-2. Civil RICO

-3. Violation of the Electronic Funds Transfer Act

-4. Breach of written contract

-5. Breach of fiduciary duty

-6. Violation of California Business & Professions Code

-7. Unjust enrichment

-8. Declaratory relief

-9. Accounting

The filing demands a jury trial and seeks to rectify “PayPal’s inequitable and unconscionable conduct.” Specifically, the document goes on to explain that PayPal seized funds from clients’ financial accounts “without cause and without any fair or due process.” The company then failed to inform the plaintiffs of the reasons they did so, even suggesting that the customers would “have to get a subpoena” to find out why PayPal seized their funds.

The document challenges PayPal’s Acceptable Use Policy, their application of it and some of its clauses, and overall unlawful business practices using that policy as a defense.

Poker Connection

Lena Evans is the first plaintiff listed and a member of the poker community. The California resident had used PayPal for more than 22 years, most recently to process retail items relating to her nonprofit organization called the Poker League of Nations (PLON). She founded the nonprofit group in 2017 to help increase the participation of women in poker.

Her claim is that PayPal froze her account on November 22, 2020. The company then seized $26,984 from that account on May 22, 2021 without revealing a reason. Evans’ attempts to contact PayPal about the matter were ignored.

Roni Shemtov is the second plaintiff mentioned. She sold yoga clothing on Ebay. PayPal froze her account in March 2017 and seized $10K from it six months later. The company then took another $32,351 from her in 2019.

The third plaintiff listed, Shbadan Akylbekov, used PayPal for personal reasons and used his wife’s account for Azyk Logistics for business purposes. PayPal seized $172,206 from the business account.

Next Steps

The Honorable Susan van Keulen received the case. The schedule for the case set March 29 as the last day for initial disclosures and discovery plans. Two April deadlines pertain to initial disclosures and case management.

The goal is to open the case as a class action lawsuit to include all PayPal users from whom PayPal seized funds “based on a purposed breach” of the aforementioned Acceptable Use Policy. They want to include plaintiffs around the world, though the attorneys can’t know an exact number of victims until and unless they obtain records from PayPal.

We will watch for subsequent filings and a PayPal response.

 

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