More Details Emerge in Ali Fazeli Ticket Scam Case
Several new details have emerged in the tale of alleged fraudster and high-roller poker tourney Ali Fazeli, following his indictment last month on charges related to a ticket-resale scheme through which Fazeli is alleged to have bilked other investors out of roughly $6.2 million.
Ali Fazeli (Source: WSOP)
A recent update from CardPlayer offers extra insight into the alleged fraud involving some of Fazeli’s alleged victims. Those three are poker pros Erik Seidel, John Juanda, and Zachary Clark, who have filed a joint civil claim against Fazeli in Nevada’s Clark County District Court.
According to CardPlayer, which received a private copy of the complaint, the amounts invested by Seidel, Juanda and Clark account for $1.3 million overall. Seidel and Clark each pumped $500,000 into Fazeli’s scalper-style business, called Summit Entertainment, while Juanda invested another $300,000.
It is not clear whether that $1.3 million is included in the $6.2 million in alleged wire fraud for which Fazeli was charged last month. Federal prosecutors brought that case against Fazeli (formally named Seyed Reza Ali Fazeli) alleging the bilking of investors in 2016 and 2017, though a separate Orange County (CA) news piece uncovered evidence linking Fazeli to similar investment-fraud claims dating back to 2015.
Fazeli could face up to 40 years in prison on the wire-fraud charges. At last check, he was free on $120,000 bond.
It appears that there are a large number of civil claims against Fazeli in addition to the California criminal case. A search under “Ali Fazeli” in Nevada’s online court system shows four separate lawsuits against him:
- A-17-755661-C — Filed May 18, 2017 by Ticket Man, LLC, against Fazeli’s Summit Entertainment Group, LLC. The lawsuit alleges intentional misconduct, and it may be a key element in how Fazeli’s ticket-resale business began to blow up in mid-2017. Further details may emerge at a future date.
- A-17-758942-C — Filed July 26, 2017 by Las Vegas’s Aria Resort & Casino Holdings LLC over unpaid credit markers extended to Fazeli. Las Vegas’s Bellagio LLC is a co-plaintiff in this action. (According to CP, “Fazeli was extended $2.1 million worth of casino credit between December 2016 and January 2017. The casino extended him credit 34 separate times, according to the lawsuit. The smallest marker was worth $25,000, which was the amount for a buy-in to the high roller poker tournaments.” Fazeli did pay back $1 million of the $2.1 million owed to Aria, leaving him $1.1 million in arrears. This also explains why Fazeli hasn’t cashed in — or, it seems, played — in any events at the Aria of late.)
- A-17-763000-C — Filed October 12, 2017 by Erik Seidel, Plaintiff(s) against Fazeli’s Summit Entertainment Group LLC. Juanda and Clark are included here as co-plaintiffs.
- A-18-771856-C — Filed March 27, 2018 by plaintiff Stephen Moreschi, likely in response to the news about Fazeli’s indictment last month. Moreschi, from California, has a handful of poker-tourney results and is likely an at-the-tables acquaintance of Fazeli.
A search under “Seyed Fazeli” brings up the Aria and Moreschi filings, but not the other two. Several more legal aliases for Fazeli appear in the Aria’s filing notice. Here’s how that filing describes the defendant by name, or rather, by names:
Fazeli, Seyed Also Known As Ali, Fazeli S Also Known As Fazeli, Ali Also Known As Fazeli, Ali R Also Known As Fazeli, Ali S Also Known As Fazeli, S R Ali Also Known As Fazeli, Seyed R Also Known As Fazeli, Seyed Reza Also Known As Malek, Ali Fazeli
Other actions against Fazeli have likely been filed in California, as per the Orange County report.
COMMENTS