Poker pro in court battle for money seized by customs

Poker pro Carlo Citrone is in the middle of a court battle over money seized by U.K. customs officials in March 2004.

Hundreds of thousands of pounds were seized from Pradeep Bahanda, a jailed smuggler, as he tried to board a flight from Newcastle, England, in 2004. He claimed to be working as Citrone's bodyguard and that the money was for a poker tournament in Belgium that Citrone was scheduled to play in.

HM Revenue & Customs applied to keep the seized money, but trustees for Citrone, who has declared himself bankrupt, are claiming the cash in order to pay off Citrone's debts.

Citrone's firm, Avanti Fitness, crashed with an estimated £3.2 million of debt in 2003 after he was ordered not to run any business for seven years. The ban was a result of being sent to jail in 2004 for a cigarette smuggling scam.

The next hearing concerning the money will take place in October.