A man with alleged ties to Israeli organized crime helped run high-stakes illegal poker games at a luxury Encino mansion owned by former NBA All-Star Gilbert Arenas, according to authorities and court documents.
Yevgeni Gershman, 50, of Woodland Hills, has agreed to plead guilty to four federal counts including conspiracy to operate an illegal gambling business, immigration fraud, money laundering and being a prohibited person in possession of firearms, authorities said.
Under a plea agreement, Gershman faces a sentence of 24 months in federal prison, along with three years of supervised release and a $50,000 fine.
His sentencing hearing is scheduled for July 6, according to Ciaran McEvoy, a public information officer for the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles.
Gershman also has criminal convictions in Israel, including conspiracy to commit murder and narcotics trafficking, L.A. federal prosecutors said in court filings.
According to prosecutors, Gershman was a central figure in a gambling operation that ran out of a mansion on Gable Drive in Encino, where organizers hosted high-stakes poker games and took a percentage of each pot, known as a “rake.”
The alleged illegal gambling took place between September 2021 and July 2022, when the Encino mansion was rented out on a regular basis to host the poker games, according to prosecutors.
Authorities alleged Arenas, 44, rented out the home while Gershman and alleged co-conspirators Evgeni Tourevski, Allan Austria and Yarin Cohen managed operations, recruited players and staffed the events with dealers, chefs, valets and armed security, according to court documents.
Arenas and the other co-defendants have pleaded not guilty and are scheduled for trial on May 5, McEvoy said.
According to court documents, Gershman allegedly hired young women to serve drinks, provide massages and offer “companionship” to players, and charged them a percentage of their earnings.
He also allegedly sent coded text messages to women inviting them to work the illegal poker games — in one case asking if a woman was open to engaging in prostitution at the house.
Prosecutors also alleged that Gershman’s immigration fraud went beyond false statements on government forms.
According to the original indictment, Gershman was accused of conspiring with co-defendant Valentina Cojocari, 35, of Woodland Hills, to enter into a sham marriage to obtain a green card, paying her financially in exchange for her participation.
The guilty plea carries severe immigration consequences for Gershman, who entered the United States on a tourist visa in 2021. His plea agreement states that deportation back to Israel is “practically inevitable” and that he may be permanently barred from returning to the U.S.
The case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations, the Los Angeles Police Department’s Transnational Organized Crime Section and IRS Criminal Investigation.
