Gilbert Arenas arrested on charges of illegal poker games

No thread so I decided to post it.

Gilbert Arenas was arrested Wednesday in connection with a federal indictment that alleges the former NBA star hosted illegal high-stakes poker games at his mansion in Encino, California, according to a release from the United States Attorney's Office of Central California.

Arenas is officially 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.

He appeared in U.S. District Court on Wednesday afternoon in downtown Los Angeles and was released on a $50,000 bond after pleading not guilty to the charges. His trial is scheduled for Sep. 23.

His attorney, Jerome Friedberg, said outside the courthouse that he hadn't had much time to speak with his client and couldn't comment on the case.

"At this point in the case, he is presumed innocent, right?" Friedberg said. "He has the same right as any other citizen to that presumption and that's how he should be treated."

Yevgeni "Giora" Gershman, a suspected high-level member of an Israeli organized crime group, and four other associates also were indicted and arrested in connection with the alleged illegal business, which prosecutors say operated from September 2021 to July 2022.

According to the indictment, Arenas rented out his Encino house and one of his associates staged the mansion for the poker games, recruited co-conspirators to host and collected rent from the co-conspirators on Arenas' behalf.

The indictment alleges that Gershman and the other defendants ran illegal "Pot Limit Omaha" poker games, among others, which collected a cut from each pot contested.

Prosecutors say that the group hired chefs, valets and armed security guards to staff the games -- as well as young women who served drinks, provided massages and offered companionship to the poker players in exchange for tips -- and that the co-conspirators took a cut of the servers' tips from the games.

It was unclear as of Wednesday who the players in the games were. The U.S. attorney's office declined further comment.

If convicted, Arenas and the other defendants would face a statutory maximum sentence of five years in federal prison for each count.

This is not the first time Arenas has found himself in trouble relating to card games. In December 2009, Arenas and Washington Wizards teammate Javaris Crittenton were involved in an incident where they brought guns into the locker room, which Arenas later said was the result of trash talk from a card game on a team flight.

Arenas, 43, last played in the NBA in 2012 with the Memphis Grizzlies. The three-time All-Star averaged 20.7 points per game over parts of 11 seasons with the Wizards, Grizzlies, Golden State Warriors and Orlando Magic.

great job DOJ!



now release the epstein files.

[QUOTE=highwhey;15025780]great job DOJ!



now release the epstein files.[/QUOTE]

I agree

waste taxpayer dollar on this and let the real criminals run free... got it

At what dollar amount is it considered illegal to bet against your friends on anything? What if they decided to bet on a backyard 3 point contest or dice game instead?

[QUOTE=highwhey;15025780]great job DOJ!



now release the epstein files.[/QUOTE]

LePstein

Was just about to make a topic about Arenas, his basketball career that is.
How he's never mentioned about players who were injured early into their careers.

[QUOTE=PistonsFan#21;15025794]At what dollar amount is it considered illegal to bet against your friends on anything? What if they decided to bet on a backyard 3 point contest or dice game instead?[/QUOTE]

The legal concept at issue here I believe is that you cannot profit from other peoples winnings in games of chance.

You and your friends can bet each other directly in dice or cards. But someone cannot collect a share of the pot as a third party host or service.

Someone could host a three point contest and collect an organizer's fee. Or a chess tournament, a Madden tournament, anything that is considered primarily skill based and not chance.

You just cant profit from hosting games of chance.

[QUOTE=PistonsFan#21;15025794]At what dollar amount is it considered illegal to bet against your friends on anything? What if they decided to bet on a backyard 3 point contest or dice game instead?[/QUOTE]

The dollar amount is irrelevant. If the house takes a rake it is technically illegal. I used to play in a game like that which would run basically 24/7.

It broke up after getting robbed a couple of times.

[QUOTE=L.Kizzle;15025855]Was just about to make a topic about Arenas, his basketball career that is.
How he's never mentioned about players who were injured early into their careers.[/QUOTE]

How I remember it he was good on the Warriors but we lost him in free agency to wizards. Then he went on a heater for a few years but then got injured again. I wanna say he was one of those guys with micro fracture surgery in both knees like amare? I can’t remember exactly but yea he blew out both of his knees and was cooked. He made huge money though. First contract wizards gave him was big but he signed another huge one with them later.

[QUOTE=PistonsFan#21;15025794]At what dollar amount is it considered illegal to bet against your friends on anything? What if they decided to bet on a backyard 3 point contest or dice game instead?[/QUOTE]

The issue is collecting a cut from other people gambling.

It's like the difference between inviting your friends over for dinner, and running a restaurant out of your house.

Friedberg Gershman type things

They probably going to get him on lying to the feds. I think the others will really have to deal with the feds. Unless someone has damaging information to link Gilbert to knowingly being involved in the high stake poker games. Guess we shall see. I wouldn’t rush to judgement there for sure. Underdog wooop wooop place your bets…


[QUOTE=L.Kizzle;15025855]Was just about to make a topic about Arenas, his basketball career that is.
How he's never mentioned about players who were injured early into their careers.[/QUOTE]

What? He’s always mentioned about a career that got derailed to injury. You’re buggin

[QUOTE=GOBB;15026039]They probably going to get him on lying to the feds. I think the others will really have to deal with the feds. Unless someone has damaging information to link Gilbert to knowingly being involved in the high stake poker games. Guess we shall see. I wouldn’t rush to judgement there for sure. Underdog wooop wooop place your bets…




What? He’s always mentioned about a career that got derailed to injury. You’re buggin[/QUOTE]
Names I usually see:
Penny
Hill
McGrady
Yao
Rose
Brandon Roy

Names I never see:
Arenas
Larry Johnson
Danny Granger
Danny Manning

[QUOTE=L.Kizzle;15026072]Names I usually see:
Penny
Hill
McGrady
Yao
Rose
Brandon Roy

Names I never see:
Arenas
Larry Johnson
Danny Granger
Danny Manning[/QUOTE]

Arenas is mentioned on podcasts. Maybe prior to that? You’d have an argument. But with the emergence of podcasts players former and current have spoken on how good Gilbert was. And how injuries derailed his career. The other 4 you mentioned? Not so much.

[QUOTE=FultzNationRISE;15025862]The legal concept at issue here I believe is that you cannot profit from other peoples winnings in games of chance.

You and your friends can bet each other directly in dice or cards. But someone cannot collect a share of the pot as a third party host or service.

Someone could host a three point contest and collect an organizer's fee. Or a chess tournament, a Madden tournament, anything that is considered primarily skill based and not chance.

You just cant profit from hosting games of chance.[/QUOTE]

That makes sense. When it gets to high stakes poker games though you almost have no choice but to have a third party involved. You can't have hundreds of thousands of dollars moving around and rely on just the players to keep track of it. And the house is obviously not gonna work for free so they take a cut of the money to pay the card dealers, staff, etc which im sure all players were aware of when they pay the rake.

Whenever i played house poker games the host would always have a cut, whether he was playing or not that each player agreed to pay but none of us were millionaires and there wasn't life changing amount of money on the table.

[QUOTE=PistonsFan#21;15026083]That makes sense. [B]When it gets to high stakes poker games though you almost have no choice but to have a third party involved[/B]. You can't have hundreds of thousands of dollars moving around and rely on just the players to keep track of it. And the house is obviously not gonna work for free so they take a cut of the money to pay the card dealers, staff, etc which im sure all players were aware of when they pay the rake.

Whenever i played house poker games the host would always have a cut, whether he was playing or not that each player agreed to pay but none of us were millionaires and there wasn't life changing amount of money on the table.[/QUOTE]

You are absolutely correct. And a license is required to be that 3rd party :lol

[QUOTE=ShawkFactory;15026085]You are absolutely correct. And a license is required to be that 3rd party :lol[/QUOTE]

And that's because without restricting it to licensed businesses, it becomes the domain of organized crime.

[QUOTE=ralph_i_el;15026091]And that's because without restricting it to licensed businesses, it becomes the domain of organized crime.[/QUOTE]

Yeah but it's absolute bs also, aside from taking a rake, gilbert just needed better lawyers. wealthy people attend "charity" games all the time. just because the host isn't officially taking a slice, doesn't mean they aren't being compensated otherwise.

it sounds like someone lost and was upset then snitched to their fed buddies.

[QUOTE=highwhey;15026099]Yeah but it's absolute bs also, aside from taking a rake, gilbert just needed better lawyers. wealthy people attend "charity" games all the time. just because the host isn't officially taking a slice, doesn't mean they aren't being compensated otherwise.

it sounds like someone lost and was upset then snitched to their fed buddies.[/QUOTE]

Sure, but those charity games are still monitored/on the books. They aren't getting robbed, and people aren't committing corruption to pay off debts accrued during charity poker games.

this is such a sham of a case. total waste of resources. it's not just some fbi agents, it's the prosecutor's office, the courts, must be a 7 figure expenditure on behalf of the federal government to stop an illegal card game, or series of card games :oldlol:


meanwhile they are completely ignoring the plea of the people to release files and investigate the epstein case without prejudice. oh wait, this is amerikka, laws for thee but not for me...my bad :rolleyes:

[QUOTE=highwhey;15026101]this is such a sham of a case. total waste of resources. it's not just some fbi agents, it's the prosecutor's office, the courts, must be a 7 figure expenditure on behalf of the federal government to stop an illegal card game, or series of card games :oldlol:


meanwhile they are completely ignoring the plea of the people to release files and investigate the epstein case without prejudice. oh wait, this is amerikka, laws for thee but not for me...my bad :rolleyes:[/QUOTE]

I can want the epstein files, AND want Israeli mafiosos to go to jail.

[QUOTE=highwhey;15026101]this is such a sham of a case. total waste of resources. it's not just some fbi agents, it's the prosecutor's office, the courts, must be a 7 figure expenditure on behalf of the federal government to stop an illegal card game, or series of card games :oldlol:


meanwhile they are completely ignoring the plea of the people to release files and investigate the epstein case without prejudice. oh wait, this is amerikka, laws for thee but not for me...my bad :rolleyes:[/QUOTE]

[IMG]https://i.ibb.co/z4JTBq3/image.png[/IMG]

[QUOTE=warriorfan;15026154][IMG]https://i.ibb.co/z4JTBq3/image.png[/IMG][/QUOTE]

:roll:

[QUOTE=ShawkFactory;15026085]You are absolutely correct. And a license is required to be that 3rd party :lol[/QUOTE]

I understand that it makes it illegal. I'm just saying that those type of games where the house takes a rake happen everywhere all the time. The government only gets involved when its high stakes and they dont get a cut of the profit (aka gambling license).

[QUOTE=highwhey;15026101]oh wait, this is amerikka, laws for thee but not for me...my bad :rolleyes:[/QUOTE]

[url]https://streamable.com/srl9an[/url]

This is you.

Wild how Arenas can’t stay away from card-related trouble. The feds coming in makes this way bigger than some backyard poker night. When they say “conspiracy,” it usually means they’ve been watching for months. Even the $50k bond is light considering the indictment. I had my own dumb California arrest years ago, nothing this serious, but getting released fast made a huge difference. [URL="https://www.alanasbailbonds.com/"]Alana's Bail Bonds[/URL] handled that part when I needed it, then the real stress came later in court.