Daniel Tzvetkoff Arrested for Money Laundering

A 27-year-old Australian was arrested Friday in Las Vegas on charges of money laundering, bank fraud and processing illegal Internet gambling transactions.

Daniel Tzvetkoff is being charged with helping to process more than $500 million in transactions between February 2008 and March 2009. It was in March 2009 that his company finally collapsed, and it’s believed that he had debts of more than $80 million including $30 million that he owed to four of the largest online poker sites.

Tzvetkoff was the founder and owner of Intabill and was arrested in Las Vegas where he was attending a 10-day conference related to online billing. It’s believed that although Tzvetkoff declared bankruptcy, he was still operating his new business successfully. He was arrested after several American online poker professionals saw him in Vegas and called authorities.

Someone who previously knew him told one media outlet, “Daniel went to the U.S. 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’s believed that the charges against Tzvetkoff will be related to the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act because Tzvetkoff allegedly disguised the transactions to the banks so it would not appear as if those transactions were related to gambling.

According to the Department of Justice, “Tzvetkoff and his co-conspirators created dozens of shell companies with names unrelated to gambling — complete with phony websites that made the companies seem legitimate — and represented to the banks that the … transactions were on behalf of these companies.”

If convicted, Tzvetkoff could face up to 75 years in prison.