Arenas, 5 others charged with running illegal poker games

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Former NBA star Gilbert Arenas was arrested Wednesday along with five other people, including a suspected member of an Israeli organized crime group, on suspicion of hosting illegal high-stakes poker games at a Los Angeles mansion owned by Arenas, federal prosecutors said. All six defendants are charged with one count of conspiracy to operate an illegal gambling business and one count of operating an illegal gambling business, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office. They were all scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday afternoon. Arenas, 43, is also charged with making false statements to federal investigators, the statement said. He is named in the indictment as "Agent Zero," a nickname from his playing days with the Washington Wizards. Arenas appeared in court Wednesday afternoon in downtown Los Angeles and was released on a $50,000 bond after pleading not guilty to the charges. His trial is scheduled for Sept. 23. His attorney Jerome Friedberg said outside the courthouse that he hadn't had much time to speak with his client and couldn't comment on the case. "At this point in the case, he is presumed innocent, right?" Friedberg said. "He has the same right as any other citizen to that presumption and that's how he should be treated." 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." 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. 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.