On Tuesday, FBI raided the famous Helly Nahmad Gallery located at Manhattan’s Upper East Side and made some arrests in an illegal gambling case. This gambling racket was operated by Russian Mafia. Gallery owner, Hillel (Helly) Nahmad is suspected to be directly involved in this indictment.
Helly is the son of renowned billionaire art dealer, David Nahmad, and his arrest has not yet been confirmed. The main suspect in this case is Famous Russian Gangster Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov. He is supposed to be the mastermind of this racket and was involved in illegal money laundering, betting and High stake poker games. Tokhtakhounov’s name is in the list of world’s most wanted criminals. Apart from this, Federal agents raided several places in New York, Miami, Los Angeles and other parts of the country and arrested more than 30 people in this case.
Molly Bloom, sister of Olympic skier Jeremy Bloom has also been held for questioning. Molly who is also known as ‘Poker Princess’ is famous for organizing card parties for her rich clients. Famous public figures like Tobey Maguire, Leonardo Dicaprio, Matt Damon and A-Rod have attended her parties in the past. If she will is found guilty, she has to serve a 10 years term in this case.
The roots of this racket are supposed to be from New York to Ukraine. This gang has made approximately $50 million through online gambling and star studded high stakes poker game since 2006. The Russian gangsters involved in this racket are also accused of making threat calls to the customers so that they’ll pay their debts on time. Among the guests for these kind of illegal organized poker parties were famous Athletes, Movie Stars and Wall Street hot shots. But the Feds have stated that none of the players is facing any charge.