Former NBA star arrested on illegal gambling charge

Former NBA star Gilbert Arenas was arrested for running illegal poker games at his mansion in Encino, California, along with five other Israeli nationals. The former Washington Wizards player is charged with one count of conspiracy to operate an illegal gambling business, one count of operating an illegal gambling business, and one count of making false statements to federal investigators.

Arenas, known as “Agent Zero” during his time as an NBA player, will have to attend a legal hearing this afternoon in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, California. The investigation is being handled by Homeland Security Investigations’ Northridge Office, the Los Angeles Police Department’s Major Crimes Division’s Transnational Organized Crime Section, and the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation.

According to the United States Department of Justice publication, the five Israeli criminals arrested along with Gilbert Arenas are Yevgeni Gershman, alleged member of Israeli organized crime; Evgenni Tourevski, Allan Austria, Yarin Cohen and Ievgen Krachun.

Details of the investigation

The indictment against Arenas and the five other suspects was filed on July 15. The former basketball player and the Israelis operated an illegal gambling business between September 2021 and July 2022 out of their Encino mansion.

Arenas ordered Arthur Kats to prepare his mansion for the illegal games. Gershman, Tourevski, Austria, and Cohen were in charge of organizing the “Pot Limit Omaha” games while Krachun worked as a “chip runner,” tracking player wins and losses, distributing poker chips to players, and paying employees.

The Assistant Attorney General in charge of the case is Samuel J. Diaz of the Transnational Organized Crime Section. The Asset Forfeiture and Recovery Section is Assistant Attorney General Ryan J. Waters of the Forfeiture and Recovery Section.

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