Home » OCW News » April 2010 » Aussie Arrested for Processing Online Gambling Payments in U.S.

Aussie Arrested for Processing Online Gambling Payments in U.S.

Date published: 20 April 2010

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The dark side of unlicensed and unregulated online gambling reared its ugly head in the United States last week when 27-year old Australian, Daniel Tzvetkoff, was arrested at a conference in Las Vegas, Nevada on charges including illegal gambling conspiracy and money laundering.

Tzvetkoff reportedly helped offshore online gambling firms process transactions worth over $543 million on behalf of U.S. online gamblers. He is also being charged with bank fraud conspiracy and laundering conspiracy. If convicted, he could face up to 75 years in prison and $543 million in fines.

Ironically, U.S. authorities only got wind of Tzvetkoff's activities in the United States when they were tipped off by a number of online gambling firms that claimed he'd 'stolen' roughly $100 million in U.S. player deposits. According to an ex-colleague of Tzvetkoff's, it was his arrogance that got him caught.

'Daniel went to the U.S. and got into the country no problem,' the anonymous colleague told an Australian newspaper. 'But I think him wandering around that conference [in Las Vegas] sort of thumbing his nose at some of the people he owed large amounts of cash to prompted them to get in touch with the FBI.'

As per the indictment obtained by the U.S. Attorney from the Southern District of New York, Tzvetkoff reportedly laundered money from February 2008 to March 2010, when the online gambling companies he worked for stopped dealing with him as a result of his alleged theft.

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Many people were surprised at the scope of Tzvetkoff's dealings and the ease with which he moved such large amounts of money. Through his company Intabill, Inc., he utilized Automated Clearing House transactions to move money from the checking accounts of online gamblers to offshore shell companies.

He then transferred those funds to the respective online gambling accounts. He used the same companies to transfer player winnings from the online casinos back into U.S. bank accounts.

Tzvetkoff is the second person to be arrested in the last 12 months for processing online gambling deposits and withdrawals. In August last year Douglas Rennick, a Canadian resident, was charged with transferring over $350 million from bank accounts in Cyprus to banks in the U.S. to pay online gamblers.