Lifelong fraudster
Well here’s something weird. You probably don’t remember the saga of PokerTribe.com or PokerTribes.com, depending on the iteration of the site, and neither did I, really, so don’t worry about it. The short version is that several years ago, the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma were trying to launch a poker site on tribal land that would accept players from other countries. Fereidoun “Fred” Khalilian, a supposed “consultant” of company Universal Entertainment Group (UEG) promised them the poker software. They paid him $9.4 million, the software didn’t work, and he and UEG kept the money.
That was over a decade ago. Fast forward to today and federal prosecutors have announced that Khalilian, now 51, has been charged with a murder-for-hire scheme and conspiracy to prevent a witness from testify at his trial. The case revolves around Khalilian’s attempt to have filmmaker Juan Esco killed last year.
Khalilian and Esco met in 2009 in Miami when Esco fixed Khalilian’s computer. Khalilian then hired him to work at his telemarketing company. They got to know each and over time, Esco became wary of Khalilian for a couple reasons. First, Khalilian professed to be both a billionaire and a Middle Eastern prince and spent money like one, but often cited different countries of origin. And second, Esco figured out that the company made robocalls offering people – frequently the elderly – extended vehicle warranties.
Esco left the company and didn’t see Khalilian for years. They ran into each other in 2019, Khalilian introducing himself to others around Esco as “Prince Fred.” Esco did some internet sleuthing and found out about all sorts of fraud cases and shady dealings involving Khalilian, including PokerTribe.
Tables turned
Esco, who was now a filmmaker, decided to make a documentary on Khalilian in order to show the world how bad of a person he was. Of course, he didn’t tell Khalilian about his exact goals. As part of the documentary, he even interviewed members of the Oklahoma tribes.
Over time, Khalilian figured out that Esco was making more of an expose than a doc. He asked bodyguard Michael Sherwood, whom he had hired in late 2021, to engage in an intimidation campaign to stop Esco from making the film, but Sherwood didn’t do it.
After sending some voicemail threats himself earlier this, Khalilian then offered Sherwood $20,000 to murder Esco. Sherwood agreed to do it, but in reality, he warned Esco what was up. In March, he sent Khalilian photos of a seemingly dead Esco, but Sherwood had helped Esco stage the pictures to fool Khalilian. Khalilian immediately sent Sherwood a portion of the promised payment, a sure sign that he was serious about the murder request.
All the while, Sherwood had been in contact with the FBI. He got Khalilian to admit that there was as second person he wanted dead and that he would have killed Esco himself had Sherwood not done it first.
“I was coming to L.A. You saved me from myself,” Khalilian told Sherwood in June. The next day, he was arrested.
