Affidavits Provide Window Into Russian Mob Tied Gambling Operation

A major gambling ring bust last month netted the head of a prominent art gallery, a so-called “Poker Princess” and associates of an alleged Russian-tied crime organization.

Affidavits obtained by the New York Times offer a revealing glimpse into the two-year long investigation.

High stakes poker games were also hosted by the group and were attended by Hollywood A-listers, professional athletes and Wall Street executives.

Hillel Nahmad, 34, was among those named in the indictment.  A raid on his gallery, located in Manhattan’s ritzy Carlisle Hotel, occurred April 16. 

30 individuals were charged including a Russian man who attempted to rig the Winter Olympic skating competitions. 

The gambling ring was reportedly financed by Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov, who is described by prosecutors as a “made member” of a Russian organized-crime gang  known as the Taiwanchik-Trincher Organization.”  The indictment alleges that Tokhtakhounov acted as a "protector" for the group. 

Prosecutors claim that Nahmad’s family wielded enormous power in the art market, with one of the largest collections of Impressionist and Modernist works in the world, and served hedge fund managers, real estate magnates as well as Hollywood celebrities and athletes, the very same types of individuals who attended the high stake poker games.

In addition to the high stakes poker games, the group operated a massive sports betting ring out of the Ukraine and Russia with the indictment claiming that funds were laundered in the US via bank accounts located in Cyprus. 

One man bet $300,000 on the most recent Super Bowl, another $600,000 on last year’s championship game. 

Nahmad was quick to hire high profile Mob attorney Benjamin Brafman.

The crux of the case revolves around wiretapped conversations between members of the gambling ring, some of which are damning.

Mr. Brafman said, “It is a mistake to draw any negative inference or  conclusion about a case or a particular defendant based on isolated taped conversations taken out of context.”

The New York Times offered a glimpse into some of these recordings:

Because several of the men accused of operating the gambling rings are related — a father, Vadim Trincher, and his two sons, Illya and Eugene — some of the wiretapped conversations have an oddly homespun feel to them, even as others revealed the thuggery and threats of violence some ring members used to pressure those who would not pay.

“Have the guy call my dad tmrw at 10 a.m. he will connect him to the guy in Moscow,” Eugene Trincher tells another man in a text message. Another time, a defendant in the case sends Eugene a text about a money pickup in Las Vegas: “Ur dad still need me to pick up cash in lv?”

Another man wrote to Illya to tell him that his father was cleaning up at a poker game at the Plaza in the early hours of one January morning, saying “Your dad is eating people up.” He added later: “Pops won a big pot this past half, don’t forget to remind him to tip the dealers, ha-ha!”

The affidavit also refers to an "NYU Dave", who owed $1.2 million to the organization and attempted to pay the debt by selling off a portion of his fashion company.

Another man, Peter Skyllas, owned Titan Plumbing.  He ended up signing away his company under mounting debt reportedly at around $2 million.  One associated joked to another member of the group that they had just gotten “some free plumbing work.”

- Alejandro Botticelli, Gambling911.com