Daniel Tzvetkoff Assists FBI with Black Friday

Jul 5, 2011 Gambling Reviews

Three of the biggest gambling sites in the USA are being investigated by the FBI as a direct result of a testimony by former Queensland internet mogul Daniel Tzvetkoff, it is alleged. Mr. Tzvetkoffs charges related to money laundering and bank fraud, and saw him set to spend seventy-five years in jail. He was accused of processing $543 million of illegal internet gambling proceeds through his company BT Projects. The information he has provided to Federal prosecutors has allowed him to be freed on bail in New York.

The results of the FBIs investigation has sent shock-waves through the internet gambling community, and the action they have taken is unprecedented. They are seeking penalties of more than $3 billion dollars from eleven of the biggest names in online gambling, including Full Tilt Poker, Poker Stars, and Absolute Poker. Bank accounts in countries around the world have been frozen and domain names have been taken down to prevent the companies from trading. The charges facing these companies include money laundering, bank fraud, and other gambling offenses in what has now beem known as black friday.

More specifically, the accusation by the FBI is that poker companies tried to get around federal law which prohibits internet gambling by processing gaming transactions through US banks as payments for merchandise such as golf balls and jewelry.  The total amount of money processed runs into billions of dollars, with an estimated one third coming from the rake of every single poker hand played online.

When some of the banks discovered these transgressions the poker accounts got shut down. It is alleged that the poker companies then tried to process their transactions through some smaller, struggling banks in return for millions of dollars worth of investment. Through this bribery the processing of illegal online gambling payments was allowed to continue.

It appears that Mr. Tvzetkoffs insider knowledge of the workings of online gambling sites has allowed the FBI to conduct a thorough investigation into some of the biggest names in online poker. In the resulting indictment federal prosecutors will be hoping to claim back some of the billions of dollars of revenue they believe has been obtained illegally.

Similar Posts:

• Major Online Poker Sites Closed Down
• Internet Gambling Payment Processor Pleads Guilty
• Bodog Founder Calvin Ayre Indicted
• Casino Deals One Billionth Hand of Online Blackjack this Month
• SA Online Gambling Debate Continues

Tags: Daniel Tzvetkoff, Fbi