{"id":287,"date":"2025-07-30T21:24:26","date_gmt":"2025-07-30T21:24:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coffeemug.club\/?p=287"},"modified":"2025-07-31T15:19:50","modified_gmt":"2025-07-31T15:19:50","slug":"former-nba-star-gilbert-arenas-arrested-for-operating-illegal-high-stakes-poker-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coffeemug.club\/index.php\/2025\/07\/30\/former-nba-star-gilbert-arenas-arrested-for-operating-illegal-high-stakes-poker-games\/","title":{"rendered":"Former NBA Star Gilbert Arenas Arrested for Operating Illegal High-Stakes Poker Games"},"content":{"rendered":"

The post Former NBA Star Gilbert Arenas Arrested for Operating Illegal High-Stakes Poker Games<\/a> appeared first on Vegas Slots Online News<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Suspected Israeli crime figure also charged<\/h2>\n

Gilbert Arenas, the former three-time NBA All-Star and current host of the popular basketball podcast Gil\u2019s Arena<\/em>, has been arrested for allegedly operating illegal high-stakes poker games out of a California mansion. He 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.<\/p>\n

In a press release issued Wednesday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California said that five other men, including Yevgeni Gershman, a suspected Israeli organized crime figure<\/a>, were also arrested on similar charges.<\/p>\n

\n

best stretch was from 2004-2007, when he averaged 27.7 points per game<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Arenas played 11 seasons in the NBA, averaging 20.7 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 5.3 assists per game. His best stretch was from 2004-2007, when he averaged 27.7 points per game, made the All-Star three seasons in a row, made All-NBA teams three times, and received MVP votes.<\/p>\n

Team of organizers<\/h2>\n

According to the USAO, Arenas rented out a mansion he owned in Encino, California to host the poker games. Arthur Kats, who is not one of the other five men charged in the indictment, \u201cstaged\u201d the mansion for the games, found people to host the games, and collected rent for Arenas.<\/p>\n

Four of Arenas\u2019s co-conspirators – Yevgeni Gershman, Evgenni Tourevski, Allan Austria, and Yarin Cohen \u2013 managed the poker games, said to be Pot-Limit Omaha, and collected a rake.<\/p>\n

The fifth person charged, Ievgen Krachun, was the chip runner, paid employees, and kept track of players\u2019 wins and losses.<\/p>\n

Fully staffed, raked games<\/h2>\n

The poker games were fully staffed \u2013 paid employees served as armed security, chefs, and valets.<\/p>\n

There were also young women present, hired by Gershman. In a scenario that sounds sketchy at a minimum, for tips, the women \u201cserved drinks, provided massages, and offered companionship to the poker players.\u201d<\/p>\n

The women were then charged a percentage of their earnings for the privilege of working the games. While the \u201ccompanionship\u201d part of the job description sounds odd, the USAO\u2019s press release makes no mention of prostitution.<\/p>\n

Gershman, the suspected Israeli mobster, was also charged with conspiracy to commit marriage fraud, marriage fraud, and making a false statement on an immigration document. He and Valentina Cojocari, who also faces the same charges, entered into a sham marriage in 2022 so that he could gain permanent legal status in the US.<\/div>\n

Gilbert Arenas faces a five-year maximum prison sentence for each count. Home poker games are typically not policed unless there are signs of crimes like violence or drug dealing involved, but an organized, high-stakes, for-profit enterprise like this one will certainly find its way onto law enforcement\u2019s radar.<\/p>\n

The post Former NBA Star Gilbert Arenas Arrested for Operating Illegal High-Stakes Poker Games<\/a> appeared first on Vegas Slots Online News<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The post Former NBA Star Gilbert Arenas Arrested for Operating Illegal High-Stakes Poker Games appeared first on Vegas Slots Online News. Suspected Israeli crime figure also charged Gilbert Arenas, the former three-time NBA All-Star and current host of the popular basketball podcast Gil\u2019s Arena, has been arrested for allegedly operating illegal high-stakes poker games out […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":263,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coffeemug.club\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/coffeemug.club\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/coffeemug.club\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coffeemug.club\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coffeemug.club\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=287"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/coffeemug.club\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":288,"href":"https:\/\/coffeemug.club\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287\/revisions\/288"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coffeemug.club\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/263"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coffeemug.club\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coffeemug.club\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coffeemug.club\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}