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Gambling busts: NYC art dealer, poker players linked to Russian crime organizations

2013-04-17 08:22:01 未知

High-ranking Russian crime figures, a banking executive and notable professional poker players were among those indicted in a major gambling bust out of New York City on Tuesday.

The investigation featured a raid of a Manhattan art gallery, billionares betting on sports and high-stakes poker games reportedly frequented by Wall Street executives, A-list celebrities and professional athletes

The New York Times reported that an art gallery located in exclusive Upper East Side Carlyle Hotel was raided as a part of the investigation. NBC 4 New York first reported the arrests Tuesday morning.

The federal indictment, announced by the US Attorney's office in Manhattan, painted the picture of two powerful Russian crime syndicates, but did not name any of the A-list celebrities or professional athletes who reportedly participated in the poker games or the multi-millionares and billionares in the U.S., Russia and the Ukraine that used the organization's sports books.

Alzimzhan Tokhtakhounov, described as a Vor and leader of the Taiwanchik-Trincher Organization in the indictment, was already facing charges related to his role in allegedly bribing officials at the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City. According to the indictment, Vor is a Russian term that indicates "a select group of the highest-level criminal figures from the Soviet Union, who receives tribute from the other criminals, offers protection and uses his recognized position of authority to resolve disputes among criminals."

The indictment allegesTokhtakhounov was paid $10 million from December 2011 through January 2012 by the organization that was run by Vadim "Dima" Trincher and Anatoly "Tony" Golubchik. Trincher and Golubchik teamed to oversee a high-stakes sports betting business that primarily served Russian oligarchs. Tokhtakhounov, 64, is still being sought by authorities and faces a maximum sentence of 90 years in prison.

The Nahmad-Trincher Organization also was targeted, with some of its New York City- and Los Angeles-based leadership active on the professional poker scene. Illya Trincher, who was named as a leader, participated in a 2007 episode of "High Stakes Poker."

Hillel Nahmad, another of the Nahmad-Trincher named leadership, was a well-know art dealer and recently purchased the entire 51st floor of the Trump Tower in Manhattan. Nahmad's art gallery in Manhattan was raided by authorities Tuesday morning. According to the U.S. Attorney's office, he is expected to turn himself in Los Angeles.

Clients of the Nahmad-Trincher Organization ran up tabs in the millions. One gambler lost approximately two million dollars to the organization and was forced to surrender his plumbing company.

Defendant Ronald Uy, a branch manager of a New York City bank, allegedly helped the organization launder tens of millions of dollars through various companies and bank accounts. Forbes reported it believes Uy is a Vice President of JPMorgan Chase.

Molly Bloom, the sister of two-time Olympic skier and former NFL receiver Jeremy Bloom, also was charged. Molly Bloom became known as the "Poker Princess" after she admitted in 2011 to organizing high-stakes poker games that allegedly involved A-list actors Tobey Maguire, Leonard Dicaprio, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Macaulay Culkin and professional athletes Pete Sampras and Alex Rodriguez.

Abe Mosseri, another of those indicted, won the 2009 World Series of Poker $2,500 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball event.

Michael Sall, a professional card player best known for betting Brian Zembic $100,000 that he wouldn't get breast implants, was named. Zembic was not.

The bust is the latest in a series of gambling investigations. Last week, the U.S. Attorney’s office in Western Oklahoma indicted 34 people allegedly involved in an offshore sports betting operation. Also last week, two New York corrections officers were among five people arrested on sports betting-related charges.

Names of those indicted by the U.S. District Attorney's office in Manhattan: Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov, Vadim Trincher, Anatoly Golubchik, Michael Sall, Stan Greenberg, Illya Trincher, Hillell Nahmad, John Hanson, Noah Siegel, Jonathan Hirsch, Arthur Azen, Donald McCalmont, Dmitry Druzhinsky, Alexander Zaverukha, Alexander Katchaloff, Anatoly Shteyngrob, Ilya Rozenfeld, Peter Skyllas, Ronald Uy, Nicholas Hirsh, Bryan Zuriff, Moshe Oratz, Kirill Rapoport, David Aaron, Justin Smith, Abraham Mosseri, William Edler, Peter Feldman, Eugene Trincher, Edwin Ting, Molly Bloom, William Barbalat, Yugeswar Rajkumar, Joseph Mancuso.

(责任编辑:张天宇)

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