2 days ago
Influencer breaks his silence on high-stakes poker ring allegedly linked to NBA superstar and Israeli mobsters that led to murder
Playboy influencer and entrepreneur Tony Toutouni claims he is not involved in an alleged network of clandestine high-stakes poker ring that investigators allege is connected to Israeli and Latino organized crime groups.
Toutouni said he has shut down his poker parties after a man named Emil Lahaziel was gunned down on June 2023 in front of a Hollywood Hills West home the influencer and his partners were renting.
The motive for Lahaziel's killing is still unknown, but his death led the Los Angeles Police Department to investigate poker games allegedly run by former NBA all-star Gilbert Arenas and five others, according to the LA Times.
Toutouni, who is best known for flashing his exotic cars and a bevy of scantily-clad models on his social media, told the Daily Mail his poker games were played with mostly his 'very close friends' and he never took a cut of any of the money for hosting.
Toutouni is not facing any charges related to Lahaziel's death, and he has not been charged in connection to the illegal poker games allegedly organized by Arenas.
'It'a all bulls**t and completely not related to whatever the NBA player [Arenas] was arrested for,' Toutouni said.
'These are completely false assumptions and I wasn't involved in any "circuit" of gambling parties. My friends and I have been playing poker for years, and nothing violent ever happened until that [shooting].
'In any place where there's gambling, there's going to be good and bad people. But when you lose, you're gonna have to pay up. That's how the game is played wherever you go.'
The allegations of high-stakes games involving 'deep-pocketed square johns' and organized crime figures made headlines after Arenas and five other suspects were indicted on July 15 for allegedly operating an illegal gambling business that the three-time NBA All Star owns in Encino, Calif.
Arenas has pled not guilty.
Gilbert Arenas was among half a dozen defendants indicted for allegedly operating and hosting illegal poker games out of his Encino, Calif. mansion
According to the indictment unsealed on July 30, Arenas and the other defendants allegedly managed illegal 'Pot Limit Omega' poker games and collected a 'rake' — a fee the house charged from each pot either as a percentage.
Others who were charged in connection to the Encino card game include Yevgeni Gershman, 49, of Woodland Hills; Evgenni Tourevski, 48, of Tarzana; Allan Austria, 52, of West Hills; Yarin Cohen, 27, of Tarzana and Ievgen Krachun, 43, of Tarzana.
Federal investigators said the illegal poker games operated from September 2021 to July 2022.
Agents allege Gershman hired young women to serve drinks, provide massages and offer 'companionship' to the poker players in exchange for chips.
The women were then allegedly charged a percentage of their earnings from working the games. Chefs, valets, and armed security guards also were hired to staff these illegal poker games, investigators said in the warrants.
Federal prosecutors allege Gershman is a 'high-level member' of a 'violent' transnational crime organization based in Israel that 'engages in extortion and drug trafficking, among other rackets,' according to an affidavit obtained by the Daily Mail.
'In Gershman's digital device, law enforcement fond extensive communications between defendant [Allan Austria] and Gershman, in which the two discussed illegal gambling operations, debt collection of gambling debts, and refer to each other as 'brother,' evincing the close bond between the two,' wrote Assistant US Attorney Samuel Diaz in the affidavit.
The US Attorney's Office also alleged a man named Arthur Kats staged the mansion to host the games 'at Arenas' direction', 'found co-conspirators to host the games and collected rent from the co-conspirators on Arenas' behalf.'
Kats also was arrested and indicted on August 7.
All of the suspects have pleaded not guilty to the charges.
According to a search warrant affidavit, LAPD detectives and FBI agents raided Arenas' Encino home in 2022, where they found a poker party 'in full swing', according to the LA Times.
Agents detained a total of 36 men and dozens of 'provocatively dressed' women, according to the affidavit.
The publication reported agents zeroed in on Arenas after a 'desperate man' went to the LAPD to report he had lost $1.2 million playing cards.
The unidentified man told police that participants had to put in $15,000 in order to participate in the high-stakes poker game. The players didn't exchange cash but played on a 'marker' and players' losses and wins were settled at the end of the night.
The man told cops that Israeli mob figures threatened to kidnap his children and 'toss a grenade into his home' when he stopped making the payments on his gambling debt. He then fled to Israel where he told investigators he met 'some men', who allegedly told him his entire debt would be forgiven if he paid around $600,000.
When asked if the men were from the notorious Musli mafia, the man replied, 'No comment.'
'The Musli crime group is the single largest and one of the most violent organized crime groups in Israel," a detective wrote in the affidavit. 'They are known for engaging in murder, car bombings and extortion rackets throughout the world.'
The man also told investigators that Gershman hosted illegal games at Arenas' Encino home.
Arenas has pleaded not guilty to the charges and was released on $50,000 bond. Trial is scheduled for September 23.
The former NBA star's house on Gable Drive has since been sold and is now operating as a drug rehabilitation center.
Arenas, who once played in the NBA for the Golden State Warriors, Washington Wizards, Orlando Magic, and Memphis Grizzlies, took to his social media a day after.
The video, posted on his social media, was captioned: 'I'm Back on the Streets. This ain't got shyt to do with me ' just rented the house' Wasn't apart of the Festivities'.
'I'm snitching,' he said of his co-defendants. 'I don't know your name. What's your name? Igor? Yeah, let me write that down.'
The Daily Mail has reached out to Arenas's attorney.
Toutouni said he has never played any poker games with Arenas, Gershman or any of the other suspects.
The entrepreneur, who has been blasted by his critics for his provocative social media posts with scantily-clad models, told the Daily Mail his card games were 'just between a bunch of friends' and claims they were not organized illegal operations.
When asked if his poker game nights also had women catering to the male players, Toutouni told the Daily Mail: 'I mean, usually when there's people playing poker, there are women there, but that doesn't mean anything illegal was happening. It doesn't mean they are prostitutes.'
Toutouni, who goes by the social media name 'Lunatic Living', said Emil Lahaziel was not a close friend, but was invited to participate to his poker party the night of June 6.
Lahaziel was living in Miami, Florida but hailed from Ashkelon, a coastal city in the southern district of Israel.
His family described Lahaziel as a doting father and often posted pictures of his lavish lifestyle with his family in Miami. The father-of-five wasn't afraid to flash his wealth with images of private jets and sparkling blue poolside shots posted across Instagram.
'We have been playing with the same group for years, but I had met him about two weeks before so I didn't know him that well,' Toutouni said of Lahaziel. 'He was down quite a bit, maybe like $200,000. He was just a bad player. I watched him play and he was just horrible.'
The game went all night and into the early morning. At around 2 am on June 7, 2023, two men wearing masks pulled up in a Dodge truck and told the valet to summon Lahaziel from the game.
As Lahaziel walked out of the house, he was shot in the face and neck, according to investigators.
LAPD arrested Ricardo Corral and Jose Martinez Sanchez for the shooting death of Lahaziel a month later.
In a preliminary hearing held last month, LAPD Det. Dave Vinton testified Lahaziel had moved to Los Angeles to break into the vape industry.
Lahaziel met Corral on Hollywood Boulavard where he allegedly sold the struggling entrepreneur and his friends a small amount of cocaine. From then on, Corral would collect money for Lahaziel, Vinton testified.
The detective did not testify what the money was used for. Surveillance cameras did not capture the shooting, but caught a hooded gunman running up the stairs and point a pistol at a valet.
Vinton testified Martinez drove the getaway car that was parked several blocks away. Corral and Sanchez have pleaded not guilty.
Toutouni told the Daily Mail he and his friends are no longer renting the Hollywood Hills home where Lahaziel was shot to death.
He also has stopped the poker games indefinitely.
'I haven't played since the day of the shooting,' Toutouni said. 'I never slept in that house after that and I haven't hosted any more porker gamed after. I kind of just walked away from that whole thing and don't want any part of it.'
