Former NBA star Gilbert Arenas and a half-dozen others allegedly ran high-end, illegal poker games at a Los Angeles home rented by the “Agent Zero” player, federal authorities said Wednesday.
The eight were charged in connection to the games that were allegedly conducted between Sept. 12, 2021 and July 20 2022, according to charging documents.
Arenas “would rent out a residence located on Gable Drive in Encino,” a suburban neighborhood of L.A.’s San Fernando Valley “for the purpose of hosting illegal poker games,” prosecutors said in court records.
While hosting a cash poker game isn’t illegal by definition, this operation crossed into a criminal act as organizers would “collect a ‘rake’ — that is, a fee the house would charge from each pot either as a percentage or a fixed amount per hand,” according to charging documents.
The operation even included a poker felt labeled “ARENAS POKER CLUB” with the image of Arenas in his basketball uniform and famed No. Zero, officials said.
Arenas played 11 seasons in the NBA, including parts of eight campaigns for the Washington Wizards.
For a three-season stretch between 2004 and 2007, Arenas was one of pro basketball’s most prolific scorers, pouring in 25.5, 29.3 and 28.4 points per game in those years.
But Arenas’ NBA career might also be as well known for a weapons incident with Wizards teammate Javaris Crittenton in December of 2009.
Arenas, Yevgeni “Giora” Gersham, Evgenni “Eugene” Tourevski, Allan “Elicia” Austria, Yarin “YC” Cohen, Arthur Kats, Ievgen Krachun and Valentina Cojocari were all charged and expected to make a first appearance in court on Wednesday afternoon in connection to the seven-count indictment.
- All but Cojocari were named in the first two counts of conspiracy and conducting illegal gambling.
- Arneas was accused of making false statements to investigators in the third count.
- Gersham and Cojocari were accused in another count of conspiracy.
- Federal authorities accused Gersham and Cojocari of entering into a phony marriage to evade “immigration laws of the United States,” documents said.
- Gersham and Cojocari were accused of misusing of a visa in the fifth count, the charging paperwork said.
- Cojocari allegedly made false statements in an immigration application, authorities said.
The defendants were picked up without incident on Wednesday by agents with LAPD, Homeland Security Investigations and the Internal Revenue Service.
Andrew Blankstein is an investigative reporter for NBC News. He covers the Western U.S., specializing in crime, courts and homeland security.
