This one jumps out to me as a possible reason, if your business is helping new businesses acquire customers:
> Sales of online traffic or engagement
It could be any of those though, it’s hard to say. Basically Stripe is trying to protect themselves from being hit by a bunch of chargebacks.
You also say that “they can’t refund customers of all connected accounts”, but I’m not sure I understand this. They could refund the charges to the original payment method, no?
For $159k, I guess you’re going to need to get a lawyer involved. If Stripe does intend to refund the payments, they are probably waiting for some period of time in case you appeal their decision. They wouldn’t be able to undo the refund, so they want to be sure first.
Aside from that, you’ll need to shop for a more flexible payment processor. If I recall, Authorize.net had fewer restrictions for example, but I am sure there are many others.