A con-artist blackjack player beat the house — and the legal system — by using hundreds of thousands of dollars in comped chips at a string of casinos from Atlantic City to Las Vegas and skipping out on the markers.
Adding to former Brooklyn resident Seyit Ibrahim Yel’s jackpot, a Nassau County judge has ruled that the Las Vegas Bellagio can’t sue him for allegedly hoodwinking the gaming palace and a half-dozen other casinos out of more than a half-million dollars for one simple reason — no one can find him.
The recent ruling came nearly a year and a half after a Nassau County judge allowed the hustling high roller to abscond on a measly $3,500 bail, despite his having arrest warrants in Atlantic City and Las Vegas.
Yel, an illegal Turkish immigrant, had spent a few whirlwind weeks in the spring of 2008 conning casinos in every corner of the country by posing as a wealthy, 35-year-old businessman named “Mustafa Seda,” authorities said.
The then-24-year-old and his entourage were feted in private planes and stayed in complimentary suites on the casinos’ dime.
The imposter, who tooled around in a new BMW, also was given hundreds of thousands in “marker loans” that he pledged to pay back to the gambling venues, authorities said.
But the chips were either lost at the gaming tables or cashed in by Yel and his cronies, authorities said.
“This is organized crime. [Yel] was the one who everything flowed through, but it was run by other guys,” a law-enforcement source said. “At least half of what the casinos fronted him would go to someone else.”
Yel was initially busted on Sept. 8, 2008, by Nassau County Detective Richard Pate for an unrelated scam in which he stole $77,000 worth of gasoline for two pals’ gas station.
When Yel appeared in court on the charge the next day, authorities told the judge he also was wanted for casino rip-offs in Atlantic City and Vegas and should be held without bail.
But because the warrants were for a man named Seda — not Yel — the suspect was granted bail.
The next day, Yel posted bail and immediately boarded a plane to Abu Dhabi, a source told The Post.
Yel had first sneaked into the US from Canada three years ago, coming into New York and assuming the identity of Seda — a real immigrant who had returned to Turkey.
In one week in April 2008, Yel was loaned a whopping $420,000 from three Vegas casinos — which he either blew at the tables or covertly converted to cash.
The Bellagio Hotel & Casino alone gave him $200,000 in two loans between April 8 and 9. His checks to cover the loans promptly bounced.
But the Bellagio’s attempt to sue also crapped out. Judge F. Dana Winslow ruled March 16 that the Bellagio couldn’t sue because they never properly served him. Plus, the Bellagio’s lawyer mistakenly sued Seda, not Yel.
Days earlier, between April 4 and 6, the Las Vegas Hilton also loaned him $200,000.
“We gave him a suite and one of our villas,” recalled Alex Montanarella, Hilton’s head of cage, credit and collections services.
On March 21, 2008, Yel conned the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City to give him a $150,000 marker. He walked out with $114,900 in cash.
He pulled similar scams at Harrah’s New Orleans, Niagara Fallsview Casino, and Foxwoods — where he and his cronies even removed the TVs from their rooms, according to a source.