Former NBA Star Gilbert Arenas was arrested on Wednesday with five other people, including a suspected member of an Israeli organized crime group because he suspected of organizing illegal poker games in Los Angeles, who are owned by arenas.
All six defendants are charged with a conspiracy for the operation of an illegal gaming business and a number of illegal gambling transactions. They should all be charged on Wednesday afternoon.
The arenas, 43, is also charged with false statements to federal investigators, the explanation says. He is used in the indictment as “Agent Zero”, a nickname from his game days with the Washington Wizards.
The arenas appeared in court in the city center of Los Angeles on Wednesday afternoon and were released with a bond of 50,000 US dollars after not guilty of the charges. His process is planned for September 23.
His lawyer Jerome Friedberg said in front of the courthouse that he didn’t have much time to speak to his client and could not comment on the case.
“At that time in this case, he is suspected for innocently, right?” Said Friedberg. “He has the same right as any other citizen in this guess and so he should be treated.”
The other five defendants are residents of Los Angeles aged 27 to 52. Among them is a 49-year-old man who is referred to by prosecutors as a “alleged organized crime figure from Israel”.
According to the accused, the accused organized the house in the Encino neighborhood from September 2021 to July 2022 to organize “Pot Limit Omaha” poker games and other illegal gambling activities. The poker players paid a “rake”, a fee that was played as a percentage or fixed amount by each hand, court documents.
One of the accused hired young women who served drinks and massages in exchange for tips and offered the poker player “Comradeship”.
“A” tax “was accused of women – a percentage of their income through the work of the games. Kefits, servants and armed security officers were also hired to fill these illegal poker games,” the explanation said.
The Israeli man becomes a separate indictment for marriage fraud and is exposed to immigration documents. He is suspected of conspiring with a 35-year-old woman in Los Angeles to enter into a bogus marriage to maintain permanent legal status in the USA
In the event of a conviction, the accused would be exposed to each count of a statutory maximum penalty of five years in the federal prison, the prosecutors said.
The arenas scored an average of 20.7 points with four teams during an 11-year career, especially from 2004 to 2011 in Washington.
Charismatic and Mercurial, Arenen-Die “Agent Zero” (representation of its number) and “Hibachi” for the way he could heat up among his many nicknames during a game, was a three-time all-star, a talented goal scorer and one of the most important cogs in a handful of magician team that in the 2000-mid-to-lat-20000 Modest success.
But Arenas’ Run in Washington ended in shame. The arenas and the teammate Javaris Crittenton were suspended in changing rooms in junction in January 2010 due to the balance of the NBA season, in which both players pulled weapons on each other.
The arenas returned for Washington in the following season, before he was traded in Orlando. He then drove to Memphis in 2011 and came 17 games for 17 games before playing in the Chinese basketball association in 2012-13. He never returned to the NBA.
His son, Alijah ArenenWas a basketball star in Los Angeles High School, who is a top -class newcomer to the University of Southern California. His college career is in the queue until the knee operation and is expected to take months, the school said last week.
