Hollywood Producer Pleads Guilty In Gambling CaseBryan Zuriff Admits To Involvement In Online Sports Book Operation |
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Last week, a Hollywood producer became the first defendant to plead guilty in connection with the massive gambling bust that happened earlier this year in New York.
Bryan Zuriff, a 44-year-old producer of the TV series Ray Donovan and movies The Details and The Messenger, admitted in Manhattan federal court to “accepting a financial instrument in connection with unlawful Internet gambling.”
Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement: “Bryan Zuriff spanned the coasts with his crimes, by operating his own illegal gambling enterprise in Los Angeles, and helping to operate a vast illegal gambling enterprise in New York. With his plea, he becomes the first defendant, but not the last, to be convicted in this sprawling script of criminal conduct.”
Zuriff was part of the April indictment that targeted 34 defendants. Other charges in the case include racketeering, money laundering and extortion.
According to the government, Zuriff operated his own illegal gambling business that catered to gamblers seeking to bet on the outcome of various sporting events in Los Angeles. He also assisted others in operating their own high-stakes sportsbook in New York that catered to the super rich. Those clients typically placed bets online through various accounts maintained on gambling websites that were operating illegally in the United States. Tens of millions of dollars in bets were placed through those online accounts each year.
Zuriff faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and three years of supervised release. As part of his guilty plea, he agreed to forfeit $500,000.
His sentencing is scheduled for November.
According to the indictment, poker players John Hanson, Justin Smith, Abe Mosseri, Bill Edler, Peter Feldman, Vadim Trincher (whose two sons, Illya and Eugene were also named), Eddie Ting and Arthur Azen were involved in illegal activity.
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