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Ali Fazeli’s wasn’t the perfect crime. There have been so many things overlooked in his plan that, in retrospect, it’s quite surprising that Mr Fazeli had even thought about pushing ahead with his plan. At first blush, Mr Fazeli had intended to buy tickets to the 2017 Super Bowl and then re-sell them to customers willing to pay more than their original value.

Only, Mr Fazeli never bought any tickets nor did he sell them to anyone. He just used them as a pretext to extort money and run. It hasn’t been the perfect crime by a long, long stretch. In fact, being a professional poker player, Mr Fazeli’s flirtation with the murkiest parts of the law have been quite surprising, indeed.

Trying to Negotiate His Way Out

Mr Fazeli has reached a plea deal that would potentially keep him out of jail. The reach of his scheme is quite extensive, though, so if he manages to negotiate his way out of jail time, that would be quite substantial. And so, Mr Fazeli managed to make $6.2 million out of the alleged sale of Super Bowl tickets.

More staggeringly still, he had been quite uncompromising about his customers, targeting fellow poker players, including Zach Clark, John Juanda, and Erik Seidel. Time passed and no tickets came, so the trio of poker players launched a lawsuit against Mr Fazeli. And today he will have to give back the full amounts he had claimed from his victims.

A Steep Price to Pay

Personally, Mr Fazeli’s life decisions have been questionable at best. He was indicted over the scam back in March when he admitted to having used around $1.8 million of the total sum to fund his gambling appetites at the Aria Casino.

But the daring-do of Mr Fazeli had not been limited to lifting cash out of friendly pockets. He has actually been owing to the casino itself the substantial $1.1 million, as he took a $2.1 million credit to fund his poker efforts.

Avoiding time in jail completely would be unlikely, but if Mr Fazeli manages to restore the sums, he may as well opt out of a stiff penalty. Why would Mr Fazeli put himself in such a mess, though, especially when things for poker seem to be looking up?

As a known face in poker circles, he was unlikely to avoid detection. Moreover, he has also been taking readily money from left and right in an attempt to continue and fund his proclivities. It’s quite possible that he might have been thinking that procuring the said sums would have given him the capital to rake in a substantial bit of money and then repay his customers.

However, he hasn’t reportedly used all the money, whether out of moral pangs or having been weighed down by a guilty conscious. We can only imagine the extent to which people have been looking for Mr Fazeli and demanding their money back.

As it turns out, Mr Fazeli may know a thing or two about odds, but he has not been a perfect crime, not by a stretch.