Haley Hintze
Former
2009 World Poker Tour winner Vadim Trincher was sentenced to five years in
prison today for his prominent role in a major gambling ring that was centered
in New York City and that also utilized offshore Internet sportsbetting sites
as part of a complex operation, with direct links to members of Russian
organized-crime groups.
Another
major defendant in the case, Anatoly Golubchik, also received a five-year
sentence yesterday. Both men were
sentenced by US District judge Jesse M. Furman, who has presided over the case
since 34 defendants were indicted last April.
Both Trincher and Golubchik were also subject to massive fines and
forfeitures amounting to more than $20 million each, more than half of the
total of $68 million in cash and assets forfeited to the federal authorities by
the case’s defendants to date.
The
five-year terms for Trincher and Golubchik are the stiffest sentences handed
down in the case to date, which is formally known as U.S. v. Alimzhan
Tokhtakounov, et al. Tokhtakhounov, also
known as “Taiwanchik” and “Akim” is an alleged Russian organized-crime boss who
has been sought by United States authorities on various charges since the late
’90s.
Tokhtakhounov
is the only one of this case’s 34 defendants who has not been brought before a
US court in connection with the charges, remaining in Russia. Trincher and Golubchik, who were alleged to
be two of the leaders of the US-based part of the operation, were alleged by
prosecutors to have communicated directly with “Taiwanchik,” ultimately
laundering more that $100 million in gambling proeeds — largely from live and
online sportsbook operations, including the now-shuttered HMSSports site.
That
money laundering, utilizing bank accounts and business entities controlled by
Trincher, Golubchik and others, “laundered approximately $100 million in
proceeds from their gambling operation in Russia and Ukraine through shell
companies and bank accounts in Cyprus.”
The operation ran from at least 2006 through 2012, when authorities
began to close in.
According
to a USAO press release, approximately $50 million of the $100 million in
gambling proceeds was subsequently sent from Cyprus back into the United
States, less a hefty $10 million or so that went to Tokhtakhounov for his
oversight and criminal protection; Tokhtakhounov has been described as a
top-level “friend-in-law” within the Russian Mob with the authority to protect
and define criminal operations and territories.
The
sentences handed down to Trincher and Golubchik exceeded those prescribed by
standard sentencing guidelines, which are not binding upon a case’s presiding
judge. The large-scale financial
transactions and the multiple links to Tokhtakhounov likely weighed into Judge
Furman’s decision.
Trincher
is among about a dozen of the case’s 34 defendants with strong poker ties. Trincher’s sons Illya and Eugene have also
reached plea deals with authorities, while other poker figures connected to the
case include John Hanson (real name John Jarecki), Abe Mosseri, Bill Edler,
Peter “Nordberg” Feldman, Justin “BoostedJ” Smith, Michael Sall, and even the
tabloid-fodder “Hollywood Poker Prncess,” Molly Bloom.
Most
of the case’s defendants have already pled out in the case, receiving shorter
sentences or probation along with significant fines. Most of the other poker names associated the
case became ensnared after helping to place bets for themselves and others
through the ring’s primary members, thus serving as lower-level bookies. A document filed as part of a sentencing
submission for another prominent defendant, Hillel “Helly” Nahmad, shows a
ledger with dozens of easily identifiable nicknames of well-known poker players,
who were among the most frequent customers of the operation.
Nahmad,
another of the case’s central figures, was also scheduled for sentencing later
today. Others among the defendants with
poker connections will hear their case decisions from Judge Furman next month.
