Online Poker Scammer Has Murder Charges Dropped

21:25
03 Dec

Online poker scammer Fereidoun “Prince Fred” Khalilian has had charges of murder dropped, according to the US Attorney's Office in Los Angeles.

The man behind the infamous PokerTribes project who was also a business partner of Paris Hilton was facing life in prison over an alleged murder-for-hire plot.

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In June of this year, Khalilian was charged with hiring Michael Sherwood, his former bodyguard, to murder a former employee known as “J. Esco”. J. Esco was working on a warts and all documentary about Khalilian, detailing a lot of unsavoury practices which he would rather have kept private.

Incredibly, Judge Dale S. Fischer dismissed the charge on the grounds that Khalilian was located in France when the $20,000 agreement with Sherwood was alleged to have been made.

A spokesperson for the LA US Attorney's Office said:

“Whether another indictment will be returned against him in Los Angeles or elsewhere is to be determined.”

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But it’s not all rosy for Khalilian, just yet. Although he currently isn’t facing the prospect of spending the rest of his life behind bars, he has been charged with witness tampering and will remain in his cell for the time being.

Khalilian is accused of trying to bribe Michael Sherwood who was to testify against him. Prosecutors say that he made nine phone calls in August and September aimed at making an offer of $400,000 for him to recant his story.

Eventually, one of Khalilian’s friends slipped up when he made a financial offer to a federal agent.

The evidence against Khalilian was damning, from what we have seen in media reports. The FBI is said to be in possession of a phone call recording where he questions Sherwood about the chances of the authorities ever finding the victim’s body.

If there are no further charges on the matter, he can count himself lucky indeed.

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PokerTribe Scam

Eleven years ago, Khalilian managed to get $10 million out of the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes to set up what was supposed to be the greatest online poker platform around.

After numerous debut dates expired, Khalilian disappeared into the wind with all of the money. All the tribes got for their investment was a poor software client that looked like it was built in the 1990s.

Reggie Wassana, speaker of the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribal legislature, said:

"A lot of money was paid and nothing was ever received. Nothing became of it. It was $9.4 million for a website basically — there was no realisation of profits and no actual working internet gaming."

Khalilian also had form for fraud after being banned from all travel-related telemarketing in the early 2000s. He was fined $185,000 for selling fraudulent travel packages.

He has also been arrested on three separate sexual assault charges and paid a hefty settlement after punching a waitress in the face at one of his nightclubs.

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