Tzvetkoff trying to stay out of jail

The 30-something e-payment processing man who allegedly assisted US enforcement to cripple online poker in the United States on Black Friday, Daniel Tzvetkoff, is reportedly back in Australia and campaigning to stave off any further jail-time.

The Australian newspaper Courier Mail reports that Tzvetkoff and his lawyers are claiming that the four months he served in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn following his arrest in 2010 at a conference in Las Vegas (see previous reports) was sufficient punishment, bearing in mind that he had assisted federal enforcement in taking down major companies like Full Tilt Poker, Pokerstars and Absolute Poker on Black Friday.

Tzvetkoff allegedly processed more than a billion dollars in US transactions for online poker sites, and by cooperating with the US authorities he may have managed to avoid a long period of imprisonment, the newspaper notes, adding that Tzvetkoff handed over tens of thousands of documents which assisted agents in their massive takedown of US online poker sites in 2011, and the indictment of 11 top executives.

The repercussions in terms of lost business, impairment of future opportunities and multi-million dollar fines and settlements were huge.

The Courier Mail quotes from legal submissions to the court on Tzvekoff’s behalf, claiming:

“For a first-time offender who has never before experienced prison, four-plus months inside the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn constitutes a harsh and significant punishment. The reality is that even one day in those type of conditions can be exceedingly harsh punishment for a first-time offender like Mr Tzvetkoff.”

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