Tzvetkoff, is the man without that black friday would not have occurred, it is the man who one day risk 75 years in prison for attempting to steal over $ 100 million and that the other day, is found free and witness in a case that accuses players of black friday.
Several counts against him including those of bank fraud and money laundering. Tzvetkoff could then spend the next 75 years in prison for having facilitated the transit of millions of dollars between American players and online poker rooms. Five months after his arrest in Las Vegas, as if by magic, he was released on bail. That has happened?
Tzvetkoff has traded his freedom against confessions and documents on money-laundering and on the knowledge that he had (among others) on Chad Elijah and John Campos. Following these revelations, the FBI was able to indict 11 people (Isai Scheinberg for PokerStars; Raymond Bitar and Nelson Burtnick for Full Tilt. Scott Tom Absolute; and Brent Beckley, Paul Tate, Ryan Lang, Bradley Franzen, Ira Rubin, Chad Elijah, John Campos) for money laundering, bank fraud and illegal gambling organization.
With counts current, Chad Elijah and John Campos may respectively 85 and 35 years in prison.
Last February, Elie and Campos had submitted a defense that was rejected. As a reminder, in their defence, the defendants claimed that poker is not a game of chance and that the Wire Act 18U.S.C. § 1084, should apply only to sports betting (in other words, that the Wire Act does not apply in this case).
Last December, the Ministry of justice of the United States had released a 13-page document that clarified its position on the Federal Wire Act Act, an Act prohibiting Interstate online betting.
According to the legal opinion of the justice, only online betting "on sporting events or competitions" are affected by the Wire Act, excluding the fact even poker online Interstate illegal gambling. On the other hand, the Minister of justice stated in this case that these decisions would not influence the ongoing proceedings against several poker rooms online including Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars.
In its defence, the DoJ claimed that if the Wire Act can be misinterpreted or fuzzy on the subject, the Illegal Gambling Business Act poker and the UIGEA they are not. For these reasons, asked that the 2 accused (Elie and Campos) are not bleached.
Judge Lewis Kaplan in this case had therefore rejected the arguments of the defence. According to the judge, even though the Wire Act did not apply in this case, the persons in question were still in the wrong in this story under the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. This is the same judge Kaplan who had found the argument that poker is a daring strategy game. In short, according to this judge, poker is a game of gambling in the same way as the Blackjack for example.
This defence was rejected, the two accused should appear April 9 before justice in New York while the Australian Daniel Tzvetkoff will witness for the prosecution. Recall that Tzvetkoff was arrested after having been denounced by PokerStars, Full Tilt and UB since he had diverted more than 100 million dollars for his own profit. We know the rest of the things. Tzvetkoff is no longer an accused now, but a witness. A man who 75 years in prison is surely ready to say many things...
Is worthy of mention in this case: counsel for Chad Elie complained yesterday of the number of documents to consider: "we have received all the parts of Mr Tzvetkoff, which represents more than 90,000 documents to which we have access than yesterday".
What impact have Tzvetkoff testimony at the trial of Elijah and Campos? We know April 9! PokerCollectif will keep you informed on this subject.
Discuss this news on PokerCollectif forums: Daniel Tzvetkoff will testify at the trial of Elie and Campos
