{"id":33230,"date":"2025-07-30T19:59:07","date_gmt":"2025-07-30T19:59:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/33230\/"},"modified":"2025-07-30T19:59:07","modified_gmt":"2025-07-30T19:59:07","slug":"gilbert-arenas-arrest-explained-why-former-nba-star-faces-charges-related-to-illegal-gambling-ring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/33230\/","title":{"rendered":"Gilbert Arenas arrest, explained: Why former NBA star faces charges related to illegal gambling ring"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former three-time All-NBA guard Gilbert Arenas was arrested by federal agents on Wednesday for charges related to the operation of an illegal gambling ring. If convicted, he could face up to 15 years in prison.<\/p>\n

Arenas, 43, is one of five men named in the federal indictment. One of his alleged co-conspirators has ties to the Israeli crime underworld.<\/p>\n

Here’s what you need to know.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udcf2\u00a0Follow The Sporting News on WhatsApp<\/a><\/p>\n

Gilbert Arenas arrest, explained<\/p>\n

Arenas is facing three charges \u2014 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.<\/p>\n

The indictment claims that Arenas and his alleged co-conspirators operated an illicit gambling ring out of Arenas’\u00a0 mansion in Encino, Calif.<\/p>\n

MORE:\u00a0Alijah Arenas to miss entire 2025-26 season with knee injury<\/p>\n

Investigators say that Arenas asked another man, Arthur Kats, to “stage games, find co-conspirators to host games and collect rent from co-conspirators on Arenas’ behalf”, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Central District of California said in a press release.<\/a><\/p>\n

Among Arenas’ alleged accomplices is Yevgeni Gershman, a suspected figure in an “Israeli” organized crime syndicate.<\/p>\n

It’s unclear whether Arenas is the mastermind behind the alleged plot. Gershman and his associates reportedly managed games and collected a “rake” fee \u2014 a fixed percentage of a given pot that is reserved for the house.<\/p>\n

Gershman faces an additional three counts \u2014 conspiracy to commit marriage fraud, marriage fraud and making a false statement on an immigration document.<\/p>\n

MORE:\u00a0Meet Gilbert Arenas’ family, from 5-star son Alijah to daughter Izela<\/p>\n

If convicted, Arenas and his co-defendants face a statutory maximum sentence of five years in federal prison for each count. Homeland Security, the LAPD and the IRS are investigating the case.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former three-time All-NBA guard Gilbert Arenas was arrested by federal agents on Wednesday for charges related to the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":33231,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,590,85],"class_list":["post-33230","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33230"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33230\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}