Man arrested in America for money laundering for gamblers

Advocates of legalizing online gambling in the USA have long said that despite laws such as the UIGEA (Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act) if people really want to gamble they will find a way but now it seems that yet another way has been closed off. Mr Daniel Tzvetkoff, a 27 year old Australian national was allegedly helping US gamblers and online casinos by processing money between gambling sites and punters using offshore shell companies set up for the purpose in the British Virgin Islands; between February 2008 and March 2009 it is believed that he laundered more than $540 million. Mr Tzvetkoff however seems to have made an elementary mistake of siphoning off money and he is alleged to owe some $100 million dollars to gambling companies which is why his company Instabill stopped processing payments in 2009. When he showed up at a conference in Las Vegas at which some of those he is alleged to owe money were also present I guess it should come as no surprise that the FBI were also waiting. He was arrested at the Encore Hotel in Vegas and charged with Money Laundering, money laundering conspiracy, illegal gambling conspiracy and bank fraud conspiracy which if found guilty could put him behind bars for 75 years as well as fines totaling the amount that was laundered. This is of course only one set back for the US gamblers who will continue to look for ways to gamble. In Ireland online casinos are legal but it still pays to restrict your activities to casinos you can trust or you might find your deposits or winnings tied up in some offshore court case like this one.