A 49-year-old Aliso Viejo man pleaded guilty to federal wire fraud and running a $6 million scheme to defraud investors promised money from Super Bowl and World Cup tickets to be resold.
Professional poker player Seyed Reza Ali Fazeli, who operated Summit Entertainment located in Las Vegas, made the plea, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California on Tuesday.
Summit Entertainment operated under the names onlinetickets.com and packertickets.com, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Fazeli requested Orange County, Las Vegas and Houston investors to send about $6 million to Summit Entertainment to buy tickets to last year’s Super Bowl and this year’s World Cup, authorities said.
He told the investors his company would resell these tickets at a large profit and share the earnings with them.
Fazeli didn’t share any profits with “numerous investors” after they wired about $6 million to Summit Entertainment, authorities said.
He inaccurately told them the NFL stopped the resale of tickets that resulted in him having to arrange a settlement with the league. Sales of the tickets, he claimed, were dismal.
Fazeli used the $6 million for gambling money at Las Vegas casinos and personal expenses instead of buying the Super Bowl or World Cup tickets, according to court documents.
Sentencing for Fazeli is scheduled for Jan. 28, 2019 and he faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison, authorities said.
Anyone who may have been victimized by Summit Entertainment or Fazeli can call the FBI’s Field Office at 310-477-6565.
