Can Tzvetzkoff bluff off Aussie fraud charges with a poker face?

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Monday, 30 May 2011 15:15

Your IT - Entertainment

It's not just Lady Gaga with a poker face, but most likely payments processing king-turned-supergrass, Daniel Tzvetzkoff, who made off with tons of cash before being nabbed by the US Feds in Las Vegas - and now faces Aussie action should he ever show his poker face down under again.

The former wonder-kid, Daniel Tzvetzkoff, is not only facing an AUD $100m lawsuit from former partner Sam Sciacca, but is now also facing the wrath of the Australian authorities.

The news comes courtesy of Fairfax Media's Asher Moses, who reports that 'if Tzvetkoff returns to Australia after helping the FBI with its case he could face serious charges over his Australian company BT Projects - the Australian arm of the online payments company that made him rich, Intabill.'

Tzvetzkoff is the classic fraud-to-riches story, having seemingly started off in a totally legit manner, only to allegedly let the money go to his head, then out of company coffers into his own wallet to fund a lavish, celebrity-esque lifestyle, all the while cheating his business partners and customers of hundreds of millions of dollars.

That Tzvetzkoff could get away with it for so long shows the somewhat seedy nature of the gambling business, with online gambling sites banned in the US, despite the US embracing its own gambling mecca, Las Vegas.

After Tzvetzkoff was arrested after inexplicably showing up in Las Vegas, when he should have known he was a target to be arrested, he then reportedly did a deal with US authorities to rat out the rest of the industry.

Presuambly, his partners would love to off Tzvetzkoff, but it's probably far too late: the damage has clearly been done, with the words that 'crime doesn't pay' ringing truer that ever.

The fallout from Tzvetzkoff's super-grassing paid off for US authorities, who them proceeded to free the US account of various online gambling sites, with sites such as OnlinePokerNews only now reporting some account unfreezing activity.

Still, it just goes to show that when you're playing with the big boys, you're not playing with 'whales' who have tons of cash, but the killer whales of the US Government.

Gamble against them, and you're gambling against the house, which as we all know'¦ never loses, or at least, not in the long run!