Judge Lewis
Kaplan imposes sentence of time served and a $13m forfeiture against Daniel
Tzvetkoff, 31
An Australian man
avoided prison when he was sentenced on Wednesday in New York for illegally
processing gambling proceeds through US banks for several major internet
betting sites.
Daniel Tzvetkoff, 31, pleaded guilty to one conspiracy
count and one count of operating an illegal gambling business in August 2010.
He was arrested in April 2010 in
a Las Vegas casino.
Since then, he has cooperated with a broader
investigation into online poker sites that led to criminal charges against the
owners of Full Tilt, Absolute Poker and PokerStars.
US district judge
Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan imposed a sentence of time served and a $13m
forfeiture on Wednesday.
Tzvetkoff, whom Kaplan previously allowed to relocate to Australia,
is now working as the chief technical officer for a "respectable organization,"
according to a sentencing memorandum filed by his attorney, Robert Goldstein.
"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 a phone interview.
Prosecutors had accused Tzvetkoff of
processing approximately $500m in transactions between American gamblers and
Internet sites through his company, Intabill, and disguising the transactions
from U.S. banks to make them appear unrelated to gambling.
Thus far,
eight defendants have pleaded guilty in the probe, including Raymond Bitar, the
former chief executive of Full Tilt Poker, and Brent Beckley, an owner of
Absolute Poker. Charges remain pending against three others, including the Isai
Scheinberg, the Israeli-Canadian founder of PokerStars.
PokerStars
agreed to forfeit $731 million and take control of Full Tilt in a 2012 civil
settlement with U.S. authorities. Absolute Poker has also settled US civil
charges.
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