Poker Pro Ali Fazeli Pleads Guilty Multi-Million Dollar Ponzi Scheme

A poker pro accused of orchestrating a $multimillion SuperBowl ticket scam that victimized the likes of Erik Seidel, John Juanda and Zach Clark has plead guilty to wire fraud. 

Seyed Reza Ali Fazeli (was indicted on wire fraud charges by a federal grand jury in California earlier this year after conning investors out of at least $6.2million.  He gambled away most of the money, according to the complaint.

Seidel and Clark were each fleeced for $500,000, while Juanda invested $300,000 in the scheme.

From PokerTube.com:

California Federal Court documents seen by Cardplayer.com show that Fazeli entered a guilty plea last month, admitting to ‘transferring about $1.8 million of his ill-gotten gains to the Aria casino via cashier’s checks’ according to Brian Pempus.

FBI Special Agent BC Mason earlier stated that, “A large portion of investor funds were used for the personal benefit of Fazeli, including millions spent at Las Vegas casinos,” following Fazeli’s arrest on February 14th for the year-long scam.

Aside from the well-known pros who were taken for an expensive ride, Fazeli was alleged to have conned $5million from a trust for the Sembler family in St Petersburg, while another firm – Ticket Man – claimed to have paid the poker player $2.5million.

- Nagesh Rath, Gambling911.com