Former NBA star Gilbert Arenas, 5 others charged with running illegal poker games at his LA mansion
Advertisement
The other five defendants are residents of Los Angeles ranging in age from 27 to 52. Among them is a 49-year-old man described by prosecutors as 'a suspected organized crime figure from Israel.'
Get Starting Point
A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday.
Enter Email
Sign Up
The indictment says that from September 2021 to July 2022, the defendants staged the home in the Encino neighborhood to host 'Pot Limit Omaha' poker games and other illegal gambling activity. The poker players paid a 'rake,' a fee charged as a percentage or fixed amount from each hand gambled, court documents claim.
One of the defendants hired young women who, in exchange for tips, served drinks and provided massages and 'offered companionship' to the poker players, according to prosecutors.
'The women were charged a 'tax' – a percentage of their earnings from working the games. Chefs, valets, and armed security guards also were hired to staff these illegal poker games,' the statement said.
Advertisement
The Israeli man faces separate charges including marriage fraud and lying on immigration documents. He is suspected of conspiring with a 35-year-old Los Angeles woman to enter into a sham marriage for the purposes of obtaining permanent legal status in the U.S.
If convicted, the defendants would face a statutory maximum sentence of five years in federal prison for each count, prosecutors said.
Arenas averaged 20.7 points during an 11-year career with four teams, most notably a seven-plus season stint in Washington from 2004-11.
Charismatic and mercurial, Arenas — who counted 'Agent Zero' (representing his number) and 'Hibachi' for the way he could heat up during a game among his many nicknames — was a three-time All-Star, a gifted scorer and one of the key cogs in a handful of Wizards teams that enjoyed modest success in the mid-to-late 2000s.
Yet Arenas' run in Washington ended in disgrace. Arenas and teammate Javaris Crittenton were suspended for the balance of the NBA season in January 2010 following a locker-room incident in which both players pulled guns on each other.
Arenas returned to play briefly for Washington the following season before being traded to Orlando. He then bounced to Memphis in 2011, coming off the bench for 17 games before stepping away to play in the Chinese Basketball Association in 2012-13. He never returned to the NBA.
His son, Alijah Arenas, was a Los Angeles high school basketball star who is a highly touted freshman player for the University of Southern California. His college career is on hold pending knee surgery and rehab is expected to take months, the school said last week.
Advertisement
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
28 minutes ago
- Yahoo
'We can't allow it': Thousands gather in Tel Aviv protesting A-G Baharav-Miara's possible dismissal
Demonstrators gathered to support the attorney-general and call the government's decision a 'political and illegal attempt to remove her by those seeking to dismantle Israeli democracy.' Thousands of people gathered outside Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara's home on Sunday night in support for her in the build-up to the anticipated vote on her dismissal, in what demonstrators called 'the political and illegal attempt to remove her by those seeking to dismantle Israeli democracy.' Violence appeared to break out between Israel Police officers and protesters in footage shared by Israeli public broadcaster KAN. 'This is a dramatic moment in the path of (Finance Minister Bezalel) Smotrich, (National Security Minister Itamar) Ben-Gvir, and (Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu to remove all checks and balances,' protesters emphasized. 'The people who abandon the hostages and soldiers in a senseless war, who back suspects of aiding the enemy during wartime, and appoint suspects of rape to head committees, will not stop themselves. They will do everything in the name of their fanatical, extreme ideology.' The protest attracted several high-profile speakers, including Professor Avishay Braverman, former president of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, and retired High Court judge Ayala Procaccia. Braverman started the round of speeches by saying: 'You must understand that now is the time to act immediately and without hesitation.' 'The responsibility for stopping this process of destruction is on us, and each one of us must take this responsibility upon ourselves. We are on the eve of Tisha B'Av. We remember the destruction of the Temple, which marked nearly two thousand years of exile and the lack of independence for the Jewish people. 'We remember the destruction because it is happening before our eyes once again. We must remind ourselves that destruction is a process, and it happens when there are not enough people to stop it in time,' he added. Finally, he described Gali Baharav-Miara as 'a brave woman, serving a path, not a patron,' and concluded, 'Tomorrow, we must not let the evil government fire Gali Baharav-Miara.' Procaccia: 'A government of disgrace, led by a defendant in criminal cases with convicted officials' Procaccia also addressed the public with a speech that described the current government as a 'disgrace.' 'Led by a defendant in criminal cases, with convicted officials who have served prison sentences, heads of committees where one is a criminal defendant and the other was appointed while being suspected of serious sex offenses,' she said. 'I see a leadership that has declared war on the proper democratic processes…harm to the independence of the gatekeepers turns the government into a single authority controlling its citizens without checks,' she added. Activist Yaya Fink entered the stage with a can of food and said: 'I want to remind the negligent government: the can of food I'm holding is the only thing (Gaza hostage) Evyatar David ate last week. And tomorrow, you are holding a government meeting with rich refreshments, which won't discuss Evyatar or any of the hostages, but will focus on the dismissal of the legal advisor and increasing security for the most protected family in the world.' 'Do you have no shame?' he asked and slammed: 'Do you think you can fast for the destruction of the two previous temples, and the next day continue to destroy the third one? Have you forgotten what it means to be Jewish?' Solve the daily Crossword
San Francisco Chronicle
40 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Letters: Ignition Interlock Device might have saved 10-year-old's life
Regarding ' Father charged with murder after 10-year-old son dies in Wine Country crash ' (Bay Area/Crime, July 23), what a shameful and sad article I woke up to the other day. A man, who had already been convicted of 2 DUIs, was allowed by the state to go out and kill his child. That's right. The state of California felt that a person with 2 DUIs should be allowed to continue driving. His child would still be alive today if California made it mandatory that this individual had a Ignition Interlock Device (IDD) installed on his vehicle. The state does force some people with DUIs to install them but apparently not in this case. My other big problem is why doesn't the state make it mandatory that every car have one? As many as 1,069 people die each year in California each year because of DUI drivers. The cost to install an IDD would be about $400. Seems like such a small amount of money to save so many innocent lives. So, again, why have our political leaders done nothing to solve this problem? One answer could be the amount of money the state takes in on DUI convictions. I wish I could tell you how much but apparently the state doesn't report how much that is but since there are about 96,000 DUI arrests per year at say $5,000 per conviction (and this I'm sure is a low estimate) that's a half a billion in revenue. So shameful and sad. Roger Lema, Castro Valley Regarding 'Reports: Palestinian activist previously detained at SFO killed in West Bank' (Bay Area/San Francisco, July 28), I never got to meet Awdah Hathaleen. The nonviolent Palestinian teacher, father and filmmaker was murdered last week by an Israeli colonizer while protecting his home from destruction by Jewish 'settlers.' I had wanted to see him. I bought tickets in June and waited to hear him at an event in Oakland, but the Trump administration wouldn't let him speak. He was held at SFO for over 24 hours, then called a 'security risk' and was returned to Palestine. Despite undisputed video of the alleged killer's shooting at Palestinians, he was released after a day and will probably face no charges. How striking that America and Israel collude to frame nonviolent Palestinians as terrorists. They deny us the right to hear their voices. They kill them when they try to defend their land. I beg readers to call Congress and the White House and demand we stop arming and funding Israel's mass slaughter in Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon. Tell your friends to speak out, too. David Spero, San Francisco Unreal responses A liberal from Danville supports Smith's ask to billionaires without challenging the nearly total loss of governmental authority over the privatized concentrated power of our nation's social wealth. A conservative from Clovis absurdly calls Smith's ideas socialist, though she doesn't even call for enforcing existing capitalism's tax rates on the wealthy and corporations (which most avoid). A third writer from Livermore finds that taxes are only wasted or sequestered by bureaucrats, so why even bother with having government (even though, for example, the 'bureaucratic' cost of running Medicare is about 2% while that of running private health insurance is upwards of 20%). While we're on wishful thinking, each of these writers, including Sarah Smith, might sit down and read the Open Forum ' Why Murdoch will cave to Trump ' on the same page above the letters. The realities in Aron Solomon's piece reveal the unreality of each of these letters. Marc Sapir, Berkeley Regarding ' S.F. may soon ban natural gas in homes and businesses undergoing major renovations ' (Bay Area/San Francisco, July 26), transitioning San Francisco away from natural gas towards electrified heating is a critical step in bringing our city into 2025 in terms of climate policy. Though cutting red tape is important and extremely in vogue in the Democratic Party, this is an instance where a little red tape can save a lot of greenhouse gases.
Newsweek
41 minutes ago
- Newsweek
Five Years After the Beirut Port Explosion—Justice in the Courts Will Not Be Enough for Survivors
Advocates for ideas and draws conclusions based on the interpretation of facts and data. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. The Lebanese have never seen accountability for any of the country's gravest crimes. Justice—when pursued at all—is politicized, obstructed, and often denied. Five years since the Beirut explosion, this legacy of impunity has become a national sin that cannot be forgiven. As Lebanon and the broader region push to recover from war and atrocities, justice must lead the rebuilding of statehood and the rule of law. Law Without Accountability—A History of Failed Practice For decades, Lebanon's most consequential crimes have gone unpunished. Thirty-five years after the 1982 assassination of President Bachir Gemayel, Syrian Socialist National Party (SSNP) operatives Nabil al-Alam and Habib Shartouni were sentenced to death in absentia. Under Syrian protection, the verdicts were never enforced, and both remain at large. No criminal trial followed the 1983 bombing of the United States Embassy by Hezbollah's Islamic Jihad arm; some victims' families could only pursue civil lawsuits against Iran in U.S. courts. The 1989 assassination of Lebanese President René Mouawad also never reached court. Citizens from across the country rushed to Beirut, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, to clear the rubble, sort through the wreckage, and find the missing. Citizens from across the country rushed to Beirut, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, to clear the rubble, sort through the wreckage, and find the missing. Photo courtesy of Rita Kabalan This cycle of unchecked crimes was challenged after the 2005 assassination of Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Lebanon pushed for the unprecedented United Nations-backed special tribunal for Lebanon (STL). Despite judicial innovation, 14 years of legal proceedings, and over $ 1 billion in funding (49 percent paid by Lebanon), the masterminds were never convicted. Only co-perpetrators Salim Ayyash, Hassan Merhi, and Hussein Oneissi were sentenced to five concurrent life terms. Hezbollah refused to surrender them, and Lebanon had no power to enforce the rulings. The subsequent assassinations and attempted political killings also never saw court. Political weaponization ensured that justice remained hostage to a system willing to destroy a country rather than establish and enforce criminal responsibility. Israeli Extrajudicial Enforcement—Impunity Expanded In this vacuum of accountability, Israel executed extrajudicial strikes in its war against Hezbollah. On July 30 and September 20, 2024, 1983 co-perpetrators Ibrahim Aqil (Hezbollah's Radwan Force commander and head of operations) and Fuad Shukr were killed by Israeli precision drone strikes in Haret Hreik, Southern Beirut. On November 9, Hariri assassination co-perpetrator Salim Ayyash was killed by an Israeli airstrike in Syria. By adopting a policy of assassinating assassins, Israel sought international legitimacy, and perhaps even the quiet approval of some Lebanese. The court of public opinion usurped the courts of law. But Israel's actions significantly undermined international law and further eroded Lebanese sovereignty and credibility. Lebanon lost its chance to set legal precedent against decades of heinous crimes. The Beirut explosion ripped through Lebanon's capital on Aug. 4, 2020, devastating homes, cultural sites, places of worship, and more. The Beirut explosion ripped through Lebanon's capital on Aug. 4, 2020, devastating homes, cultural sites, places of worship, and more. Photo courtesy of Rita Kabalan Israel is instead authoring a dangerous new rulebook, normalizing "might is right" as the region's arbiter of justice. Even with a president and government, Lebanon remains disempowered, stripped of agency and avenues for accountability. Beyond Lebanon, this threatens the broader Middle East, weakening international legal norms and inviting state and non-state actors to bypass rule-based governance. A Chance To Exit Lebanon's Judicial Purgatory Justice for the Beirut explosion must take a different path. In a recent meeting with the victims' families, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said, "From now on, justice will take its course, the responsible will be tried, and the innocent will be exonerated. ... We must uncover the whole truth and hold accountable those who caused this catastrophe." Yet, formidable obstacles persist. Judge Tarek Bitar's mandate is under threat, the general prosecutor is abusing power and obstructing the investigation, suspects have been released without trial, elected officials are still shielded from prosecution, judicial summons are routinely defied, critical evidence remains uncollected, and inaction continues to evade accountability. On Aug. 8, 2020, thousands rallied in Beirut, demanding justice after the port explosion and protesting government negligence. Security forces responded with tear gas, rubber bullets, and pellet rounds, injuring over 700 protesters. On Aug. 8, 2020, thousands rallied in Beirut, demanding justice after the port explosion and protesting government negligence. Security forces responded with tear gas, rubber bullets, and pellet rounds, injuring over 700 protesters. Photo courtesy of Rita Kabalan Without urgent, comprehensive reforms—lifting immunities, restoring full judicial independence, ensuring trial, and enforcing sentences—Lebanon's pursuit of justice remains pending in purgatory. But victims' families and survivors cannot wait for justice to only begin after Lebanon's state institutions are reclaimed and reformed. Unlike past assassinations, one of the world's largest non-nuclear explosions was not a case of targeted killings. It was an act of criminal negligence, culpable omission, and gross dereliction of duty—implicating some of the highest levels of the Lebanese state, Hezbollah, and their allies. Legal proceedings alone cannot deliver justice, accountability, and reparations. A credible path to justice requires that Hezbollah disarm, relinquish control over state institutions, and surrender their economic stranglehold. Today, Lebanon, more than ever, needs judicial innovation, state fortitude, and moral courage. The country has a rare chance to reclaim its sovereignty and define justice on terms set by survivors and citizens, and not by geopolitical and non-state agendas. The international community bears an immense responsibility to help Lebanon seize this moment. Only then can the Lebanese claim justice and Lebanon reclaim itself. Lynn Zovighian is a philanthropist, humanitarian diplomat, and founder of the Zovighian Public Office, partnering with communities facing genocide and crises in the Middle East and South Caucasus through research, culture, and diplomacy. She is also co-founder of the Zovighian Partnership. The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.
