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Posted on 07/30/2025 1:55:28 PM PDT by DFG
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 is scheduled to make his first court appearance and be arraigned in U.S. District Court on Wednesday afternoon in Los Angeles.
Yevgeni "Giora" Gershman, a suspected high-level member of an Israeli organized crime group, and several 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, that 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.
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The Taxman didn’t get his cut.
In a state where they have huge poker rooms, that charge seems like an unnecessary use of resources, unless there’s something else going on behind the scenes.
43 years old-wannabe George Floyd.
Most likely.
More than mjeets the eye:
It was alleged that a foreign national was in that game, also. Gilbert Arenas was arrested along with five other individuals, including a suspected Israeli crime figure named Yevgeni Gershman. Gershman is described as a suspected high-level member of an Israeli transnational organized crime group, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
wy69
I’m glad the government did this. I feel so much safer.
#sarc
Yep. As long as everyone at the house was a legal age consenting adult and nobody got whacked for not paying up, I think law enforcement has much bigger priorities.
Once a gangsta, always a gangsta...
Generally speaking, a home cash game is perfectly legal BUT if the “house” is taking a cut of every pot then it’s an “enterprise” and no longer a casual game.
Agent Zero Chips
When I was a kid in the 80’s my dad ran a home game. He took a small rake just to pay for the deli food we picked up at the grocery store. It wasn’t some big money operation even if it paid for his buy-in some nights if they ran late enough. What is the line?
Why do they always post lines like this when sports figures get arrested? Do you read about a garbage man's career when he gets arrested? "Over 15 years, Joe the garbage man picked up over 200,000 cans of trash and disposed of them at the dump."
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