The feds allege that a high-stakes poker player funded trips to the Aria and Bellagio casinos on the Las Vegas Strip through a ticket scam.
A news release Thursday from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California said that Seyed Reza Ali Fazeli, 49, has been indicted on wire fraud charges that allege a $6.2 million scheme that bilked investors who were promised “large profits” from the resale of tickets to popular sporting events.
Fazeli allegedly ran a Las Vegas-based ticket business called Summit Entertainment, which also operated under the names onlinetickets.com and pacertickets.com. The operation ran from May 2016 to “at least May 2017,” the feds said.
Fazeli was able to get investors to fork over a combined $6.2 million so that he could purchase tickets to the 2017 Super Bowl and the 2018 World Cup, and then resell them at a profit.
However, according to the government, he never bought the tickets and instead used the money at the two Las Vegas casinos. Fazeli allegedly lied that unloading the tickets didn’t pan out because the NFL prohibited their resale and that he was working on a settlement with the NFL.
Fazeli cashed in 10 tournaments in 2016 with a buy-in of at least $25,000. All of them were at Aria. Nearly all of his $2.2 million in lifetime tournament earnings came in 2016. He didn’t cash in a single high-stakes tournament last year, but it’s unclear if he played.
Fazeli was arrested Feb. 14 and released on bond a day later. He is scheduled to be arraigned on Mar. 26. He could face up to 40 years in prison if convicted.
Reply With Quote