Aussie Daniel Tzvetkoff Jail Hopping in US

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Published on:
May/11/2010

(AAP) - Former Australian internet high-flyer Daniel Tzvetkoff is enduring a cross-country tour of America's prisons.

Just a few years ago, Tzvetkoff - now jailed on bank fraud and money-laundering charges in the US - purchased a $A28 million mansion on the Gold Coast, drove Lamborghinis, flew on private jets and was estimated to be worth $A82 million.

Today, the 27 year-old is housed in the dour Federal Transfer Center (FTC) prison in the central US state of Oklahoma.

Next up on his itinerary is a jail in New York.

Before Oklahoma, Tzvetkoff spent three weeks locked up in the North Las Vegas Detention Center.

Tzvetkoff's life took a major u-turn on April 16 when the FBI and US immigration officers swooped at the upmarket Las Vegas casino Encore and charged him with money laundering and bank fraud that carry a maximum penalty of 75 years in jail.

New York Judge Lewis Kaplan dashed Tzvetkoff's hopes of bail during a hearing on April 28, reversing an earlier ruling by a Las Vegas judge that would have won his release and allowed Tzvetkoff's father Kim to drive him from Las Vegas to New York, where the court proceedings will take place.

Tzvetkoff's travel plans are now decided by the US Marshals, who flew the Australian and other prisoners on a Marshals aircraft from Las Vegas to Oklahoma City's FTC, a prison located near Will Rogers World Airport and used as a secure hub for the transport of prisoners around the US.

"It houses people being transported from prison to prison," a US Marshals spokeswoman, describing the FTC, told AAP.

Tzvetkoff is expected to remain at the FTC until a Marshals plane can fly him to New York.

Tzvetkoff, who created highly-profitable Brisbane-based internet payment processing company Intabill but filed for bankruptcy, is accused of being the mastermind of a $US540 million internet gambling, money laundering and bank fraud scheme.

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