The controversial Florida entrepreneur behind the PokerTribe.com online poker project is being sued by his former Oklahoma tribal partners for allegedly cheating them out of $13m.

Last Thursday, Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes Gov. Eddie Hamilton filed a lawsuit in a tribal court in Concho, Oklahoma against Universal Entertainment Group (UEG) and its controversial owner, Fereidoun ‘Fred’ Khalilian (pictured), over an online poker partnership that never got off the ground.

In 2012, the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes inked a deal with UEG to launch PokerTribes.com, an online poker site catering to international gamblers. Despite the tribe investing $9.5m, the project never got off the ground, and the tribes pulled the plug in 2014 following elections that brought Hamilton’s administration to power.

The lawsuit accuses Khalilian and UEG partners Isaias Almiras and Tatiana Vlasenko of engaging in “deceit, greed and utter disregard for the laws and economic well-being of the tribes.”