We now know at least one of the items that disgraced former payment processor Daniel Tzvetkoff gave US law enforcement officials in exchange for his early release from prison a couple months back. Australia’s Courier Mail newspaper has reported that after five months in jail staring at a possible 75-year jail term for money laundering, Tzvetkoff decided to reveal to the FBI the location of $50m he had stashed in the accounts of a Las Vegas-based payday lending company.
Hugo Services, the payday lender named after Tzvetkoff’s son, was launched in 2008 with $27m in capital loaned from another Tzvetkoff company, BT Projects. Hugo (the company) was a runaway success, nearly doubling in value over its initial nine months of operation. But in March 2009, Tzvetkoff abruptly shut Hugo down and let the accumulated cash lay dormant. At least, until now.
In April of this year, Tzvetkoff was arrested in Las Vegas on charges that he helped launder money for online gambling companies, including Full Tilt, PokerStars, Ultimate Bet and Absolute Poker. Tzvetkoff’s payment processing company Intabill spectacularly imploded in 2009 after just a few years in operation, stiffing many of the aforementioned gambling firms in the process.
In addition to facing a $100m lawsuit from his former partner Sam Sciacca, Tzvetkoff is also being sued by Full Tilt Poker for over $60m. The question now becomes who will be the first to lay legal claim to the $50m stashed in Hugo Services – the FBI, Full Tilt or one or more of the other parties who were on the receiving end of Tzvetkoff’s duplicity. And people are also starting to wonder what other songs Tzvetkoff may have sung to stay on the Feds’ good side.
