Filmmaker worked on documentary to expose fraudster
In a wild story that will have to be made into a movie someday, serial fraudster Fereidoun “Fred” Khalilian has been arrested for an alleged plot to murder filmmaker Juan Esco. Federal prosecutors have also charged Khalilian with conspiracy to prevent a witness from testifying.
the old “scam the elderly with BS extended warranties” scheme
Khalilian and Esco met back in 2009 in Miami and Esco went to work at Khalilian’s telemarketing firm. Khalilian carried himself like royalty, even claiming he was a Middle Eastern prince, but Esco became suspicious of the claim when he heard him use different country names on several occasions. Esco also found out the company was running the old “scam the elderly with BS extended warranties” scheme, so he got out.
In 2019, the two ran into each other and Esco, now a filmmaker, could see the same sleazy guy he knew years before. Thus, he decided to make a documentary to expose him. He interviewed Khalilian over the course of nearly a week, telling him it would give him good publicity. According to FBI agent Michael Fukuda, Esco also talked to Khalilian’s bodyguards and scam victims.
And then Khalilian figured out that the documentary was an exposé.
Bodyguard helped target stage his death
In early 2022, Michael Sherwood, who had been Khalilian’s bodyguard since October 2021, was getting worried about Khalilian’s harsh mood swings. Khalilian was convinced that Esco was trying to ruin his life. Sherwood went to Esco to try to talk to him and saw he was a “not a bad guy,” but Esco was determined to finish the film.
In the first quarter of this year, Khalilian hired Sherwood to try to scare Esco into dumping the project, but Sherwood didn’t do it. Khalilian personally threatened Esco, but Esco persisted. At that point, in mid-March, Khalilian offered Sherwood $20,000 to murder Esco.
helped him stage pictures of his “murder” to get Khalilian off his back
Sherwood accepted the offer, but unbeknownst to his boss, he warned Esco about Khalilian and then helped him stage pictures of his “murder” to get Khalilian off his back. Within a minute of sending the photos to Khalilian, Sherwood received $3,000, removing any doubt that his boss wasn’t serious. In all, Sherwood received $12,500, but about half of that ended up in FBI-controlled accounts.
In a recorded follow-up call, Sherwood got Khalilian to admit that he had another murder target in mind and in June, Khalilian allegedly told Sherwood that if he hadn’t gone through with the murder, “I was going to kill him myself.”
Khalilian was arrested that day.
Khalilian defrauded multiple tribes
Fereidoun Khalilian’s ties to gambling date back over a decade, when he worked as a “consultant” with a company called Universal Entertainment Group (UEG). Khalilian and UEG entered into a deal with the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma to provide them with a real-money online poker platform. The tribes’ goal was to launch an online poker room, PokerTribes.com, based in tribal territory that would accept customers from around the world.
Reggie Wassana, speaker of the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribal legislature, told the Oklahoman that Khalilian never came through.
no actual working internet gaming”
“A lot of money was paid and nothing was ever received,” he said. “Nothing became of it. It was $9.4 million for a website basically — there was no realization of profits and no actual working internet gaming.”
What’s even more amazing is that Khalilian did it again, promising the same thing to the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma for a site called…get this…PokerTribe.com (no “s”). They, too, lost millions on the deal.