Former NBA Star Gilbert Arenas Breaks Silence After Gambling Arrest: ‘Back on the Streets'

Yahoo

4 days ago

Former NBA All-Star Gilbert Arenas is happy to be out on bond after his arrest on Wednesday, July 30, on gambling-related charges.
Arenas, 43, posted a video via X on Wednesday night, showing himself dancing his way down a set of stairs and saying to the camera, 'They can't hold me.'
'Im Back on the Streets 🗣️' he wrote alongside the video. 'This aint got shyt to do with me ' just rented the house' Wasnt apart.'
Arenas and five others are accused of operating an illegal gambling business out of an Encino, California, mansion that Arenas had rented, according to a release from the United States Attorney's Office of Central California.
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The former pro basketball player pleaded not guilty to 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 was released on $50,000 bond and his trial is scheduled to begin September 23.
Arenas allegedly held high-stakes illegal poker games at the mansion, along with the other defendants, one of whom is suspected Israeli organized crime member Yevgeni "Giora" Gershman.
"At this point in the case, he is presumed innocent, right?" Arenas' lawyer Jerome Friedberg told reporters outside the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles on Wednesday. "He has the same right as any other citizen to that presumption, and that's how he should be treated."
Gershman, 48, is accused of hiring young women who, in exchange for tips, 'served drinks, provided massages and offered companionship to the poker players,' according to the release. The women were then charged a 'tax' that the organizers of the game took out of their tips. They also allegedly kept a portion of the pot in each illegal 'Pot Limit Omaha' poker game.
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Chefs, valets and armed security guards were also allegedly hired to staff the games.
Arenas has found himself in hot water related to card games before. While he was playing for the Washington Wizards, he was famously involved in a 2009 incident with teammate Javaris Crittenton in which they allegedly drew guns on each other in the team locker room. The following January, Arenas pleaded guilty to a felony charge of carrying an unlicensed pistol outside a home or business.
Arenas and Crittenton, 37, were suspended for the remainder of that season, and Arenas was sentenced to two years of probation and 30 days in a halfway house. Crittenton was sentenced to a year of unsupervised probation.