Former NBA player Gilbert Arenas was released on bail this Wednesday after being arrested hours earlier along with five other individuals in Los Angeles, all accused of running an illegal high-stakes poker business, as reported by EFE.
Arenas, 43, pleaded not guilty to the three felony charges against him and was released after posting a $50,000 bail, as reported by the New York Times.
His trial is scheduled for September 23rd.
Among those arrested is Yevgeni Gershman, alias 'Giora', a suspected member of the Israeli organized crime.
According to the Department of Justice's accusation, Arenas, Gershman, and the other detainees operated this illegal poker business between September 2021 and July 2022.
The games were held at a mansion owned by Arenas in Encino (Los Angeles, California).
Gershman and three of the detainees -Evgenni Tourevski, Allan Austria, and Yarin Cohen- managed the games, collecting commissions and hiring chefs, valets, armed security, and young women who offered "massages and companionship."
The games featured high-stakes 'Pot Limit Omaha' and other illegal games.
Arenas and the other detainees face a maximum sentence of five years in prison if found guilty.
The former NBA player had previously been involved in a serious incident in 2009 when, as a player for the Washington Wizards, he brought a gun into the locker room. The league suspended him for the rest of the season, in one of the most remembered scandals in the league.
Arenas' career -who played 11 seasons in the NBA- quickly declined after the incident and suspension, playing his final games in the league for the Memphis Grizzlies in 2012.