A Las Vegas federal judge granted Australian Daniel Tzvetkoff bail as he awaits trial on four charges related to more than half a billion dollars worth of bank fraud, money laundering, and UIGEA violations. The 28-year-old payment processor faces up to 75 years in prison for his actions — essentially transferring funds between US online poker players and sites the Department of Justice considers to be \”illegal internet gambling companies\”.
Prosecutors protested his release, claiming he was a flight risk as a foreign national who is believed to have a $100 million hidden stash at his disposal.
But the judge accepted the assurance of his father, Kim Tzvetkoff, who was willing to put up his own $1.2 million home in Brisbane, Australia, up as collateral should Daniel fail to appear in New York\’s Southern District federal court. The potential release was a surprise even to his family — and presumably a relief to any online poker big-wigs who fear they might face a similar challenge somewhere down the line.
Click here for a video interview with his father.
However, Tzvetkoff will likely spend at least a few more days in the North Las Vegas Detention Center as his lawyers fight a separate detention order from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the largest investigative agency in the Department of Homeland Security.
Should he clear immigration, his father has agreed under court order to drive him across the country to New York, where he will be met by his pregnant fiance and 3-year-old son to live under house arrest while awaiting trial.
Tzvetkoff was in Las Vegas, btw, for a conference (still trying to figure out which one), and was staying at the Encore. Police arrested him there after someone — supposedly one of his creditors — tipped off the FBI about his presence.
Kinda funny in a Vegas way … he had to share a bench during the bail hearing with a woman charged with prostitution.