Art Dealer With Russian Mob Connections Helly Nahmad Out of Prison

Just five months into a thirteen month sentence, high end art dealer Helly Nahmad has been released from prison.

The New York Observer reports that Nahmad has been transferred from a New York State prison to a halfway house in the Bronx.

Nahmad ran an art gallery out of the posh Carlyle Hotel in Manhattan.  Police raided the gallery in 2013 as part of an investigation into a gambling money laundering scheme allegedly headed up by a Russian Mafia operative. 

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 alleged that Tokhtakhounov acted as a "protector" for the group. 

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. 

That same investigation netted a popular high stakes poker game hostess, Molly Bloom, and “Ray Donovan” producer, Bryan Zuriff.

Nahmad had initially pleaded with the court to let him off without any jail time.  In exchange, he said, he would teach disadvantaged children about art.

U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman told Hillel "Helly" Nahmad in Manhattan federal court that allowing him to stay free and start the charity "would breed contempt for the law."

- Jagajeet Chiba, Gambling911.com