Australian Payment Processor Arrested in US

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An indictment was opened against Australian payment processor Daniel Tzvetkoff in the Southern District of New York (SDNY) on April 16, charging him with illegally processing more than $500 million to online gambling operators between February of 2008 and March of 2009. The alleged modus operandi used by Tzvetkoff was the same as in the case of earlier indictments of payment processors by SDNY. Tzvetkoff opened bank accounts citing reasons other than online gambling payment processing and illegally used these accounts to remit funds to online players. The specific charges made against Tzvetkoff are gambling conspiracy, bank fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy and money laundering, which are similar to the charges in the earlier cases. One major departure in this case is that the charges have been framed under the UIGEA. Accordingly Tzvetkoff was arrested in Las Vegas on April 17, where he was attending an Internet conference.

There is another difference in the case of Tzvetkoff. He is not popular in the online gambling industry. In the middle of 2009 his company Intabill abruptly stopped the processing of payments and ducked from the scene owing over $30 million to online gambling operators that included in the main three poker rooms and one casino. In fact Full Tilt poker has sued Intabill for 52 million Australian dollars. There are rumors at online casino forums that the online gambling operators Tzvetkoff owed money to are responsible for his arrest. A former employee of Tzvetkoff has reportedly said, “Daniel went to the US and got into the country no problems but I think him wandering around that conference sort of thumbing his nose at some of the people he owed large amounts of cash to caused them to get in touch with the FBI.”

It is expected that Tzvetkoff would make a bail application on April 21. But it is unlikely that he would be granted bail. Being an Australian national he is a serious flight risk. Also the charges against him are so grave that he could face a prison term of 75 years if convicted. And then there is a precedent of bail not being allowed in such cases. In 2006, British national David Carruthers, the CEO of BetOnSports.com was arrested while transiting through the United States and also charged with money laundering. He was denied bail, placed on house arrest and monitored by electronic ankle bracelet.

Meanwhile the gossip journals in Australia and the USA are having a field day digging up murky stuff about Tzvetkoff. It has been revealed that Tzvetkoff has a pregnant fiancée in Australia who is expecting their second child. They already have a three year old son.

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