'Poker Princess' Gets Probation In Gambling CaseMolly Bloom Granted Leniency From Federal Judge |
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Molly Bloom, who is known as the “poker princess,” has been sentenced to probation for her role in hosting card games that were under the control of a gambling operation with links to the Russian mob. The enterprise laundered tens of millions of dollars, the feds said.
Bloom was accussed of hosting underground private games in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Miami and New York for years. Celebrities rumored to have appeared in a Bloom-run poker game somewhere in the United States include Tobey Maguire, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Alex Rodriguez and Leonardo Dicaprio. (None of those celebs were linked to any misconduct.)
The games that got Bloom into hot water for were the ones in New York. In December, she admitted in Manhattan Federal Court to moving the poker games from Los Angeles to Manhattan in 2010 and running them out of two hotels.
In addition to probation, Molly was ordered to pay a $1,000 fine and perform 200 hours of “community service.” Lost wages are also a punishment for her.
Bloom is currently working on a memoir, and the judge in her case asked if anything in the book would conflict with the remorse she expressed in court. She said it wouldn’t.
According to the Associated Press: “Her attorney…had urged leniency, saying Bloom had conducted games legally by only accepting tips until a co-host insisted that they begin taking a cut of the pot…which lasted only a few months before she was forced from the games. He said she had lost all of the $1 million that the government said she made through the games. She now earns $19 an hour working at a friend’s business, he said.”
Bloom had been on the hook for up to five years in prison. However, thanks to her deal she was in line to get anywhere from probation to six months.
Another one of the individuals charged in the case—poker player Vadim Trincher— was also recently sentenced. He received five years in prison.
More than 30 people were charged in the case.
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