play 2.6.6 General SSLEngine problem WS client SSL configuration

[MC]

Hello,
I ran into "General SSLEngine problem" errors when trying to connect to a REST API using a Play WS client.
I tried adding play.ws.ssl.loose.acceptAnyCertificate = true to Play configuration but that did not help.
Is this still an unresolved issue in Play framework? If so how can I work around it?
I saw a post that defined a whole new module (a replacement for the default WS client) and I tried that approach but that did not work either.
I'd appreciate any help in this matter.
Thanks,

M

[MC]

It seems this is only happening when using WS test client:
import play.api.test._
WsTestClient.withClient

For some reason acceptAnyCertificate flag is ignored for those.
SSL handshake works OK when using a regular WS client.
Thanks,

M