Millionaire Chess 2!!

It's always good to give careful thought before making such important decisions

MC's lack of a quality staff (don't forget the first round pairing debacle) is directly connected to their lack of funds. Anything they took in for entry fees had to go to the promised "guaranteed" winnings...so there was nothing left to cover anything else. 

themaskedbishop - How much funds do you need doing a basic google search?

There's a bit more to it than a google search.  You have to verify that the two referenced people and the MC2 player are the same person.  Takes some effort on someone's part.

The guy's FIDE profile shows that he started playing in June 2015.  There are no games shown for him prior to that (the records go back to 2001).  Presumably, the FIDE data came from the Russian Federation.

Still, considering the Russian plus the five or six suspect Americans, I would be reluctant to enter an MC tournament because they seemed to have missed some major red flags.

Just imagine if the naysayers were in charge and they had a couple people named "John Smith" join their tournament!

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Edit added:

I want to make clear: I am sure the tnmt could have been run better. But unlike many here, I wanted it to succeed. 

Interesting that Atlantic City is an option, but Philly/NYC/DC are not.

Wasn't NYC an option? I filled up the survey and thought it was... but my memory is not sharp, so would like to see if you guys remember. NY has a big pool of chess players...

You can't rely on FIDE,  its useless. Don't you realize that most of the tournaments in Russia, as well as in United States are not FIDE rated! Especially those from a decade ago.

You only see one Russian among 5-6 suspect Americans, when in fact 3/4 of the class sections champions are foreign citizens? LOL

Hey.  I'm not the one who vetted the players.  The fact that foreigners won a lot of the money is not evidence of sandbagging.  I spotted six or seven players who started playing two or three months before the MC Open, had mediocre performances in their earlier tournaments, and two weeks later performed spectacularly.  There may have been others, but I didn't spot them (I really wasn't looking for sandbaggers.  These were just obvious).  

Yes, I know that not all tournaments are FIDE rated.  I'm just looking at the information that I have available, and there's nothing that either confirms or refutes the hypothesis that the Russian had a previous tournament history.  You still have to prove that the <12 and <18 year olds and the MC2 player are the same person.  However, his suspicious pre-tournament actions should have alerted the MC staff that something was amiss.

May have to do with the presence of casinos.  One of MC's news letters mentioned that they had signed a three-year contract with Caesar's Entertainment.

It is definetly the same person. Playing <12 in 2003 and <18 in 2008 while being currenly 24 yo indicates a perfect age match. Besides Khasen Levkin is very rare name in Russia. Its nothing like "John Smith" or "Ivan Ivanov". LOL

The evidence suggests that it is the same person.  What's your next step when he denies it?

Place him in the open section or kick out from the tournament.

Later, you find out that he is a different person.  How do you handle the resulting bad public relations and the potential lawsuit?

Its definetly the same person.

If you say so.  I'd want more supporting documentation.  Lawsuits are expensive even if you win (In the US you pay your own legal bills.  The last lawyer I hired charged $250/hr.  It mounts up fast).

... and yet, somehow, they're not the criminals.

Doggy_Style

Many of the plaintiff lawyers operate on a contingency basis.  They quickly settle out of court and take 1/3 of the settlement.  If they lose, they get nothing.  However, the defendants usually settle for less than what their legal fees would be.  More cost effective that way.

I'm not sure that "it's definately the same guy" would meet the burden of proof required by a court of law.