Black Friday Informant Daniel Tzvetkoff Avoids Prison Time
Daniel Tzvetkoff, the Australian businessman who processed more than $1 billion in illegal online poker transactions in the U.S., will avoid additional jail time after a U.S. federal judge sentenced him to time served and $13 million in forfeitures on Wednesday.
Tzvetkoff, 31, was arrested in Las Vegas in 2010 for processing Internet gambling transactions between February of 2008 and March of 2009 through his company IntaBill. He was facing up to 75 years in prison but struck a plea bargain with prosecutors and provided vital evidence incriminating PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker.
His insider knowledge allowed the government to shut down the three major online poker sites on April 15, 2011, now known in the industry as Black Friday.
After serving four months in a New York prison following his 2010 arrest, Tzvetkoff lived in hiding under FBI protection as the star informant in the case. According to his lawyer, Robert Goldstein, Tzvetkoff is currently working as chief technical officer for a “respectable organization” in Australia.
"Daniel is a capable, highly skilled and intelligent young man, and he looks forward to a productive, happy and quiet life with his family," Goldstein said in an interview with Reuters on Wednesday.
Lead photo courtesy of freeimages.com.
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