Hollywood Producer Seeks No Jail Time In High-Profile Internet Gambling Case

Lawyers for a Hollywood producer who pleaded guilty to operating an illegal Internet gambling business are asking a federal judge to give probation, instead of sending him to prison. The guideline is six months to a year.

Bryan Zuriff, a 44-year-old producer of the TV series Ray Donovan and movies The Details and The Messenger, admitted in July, in Manhattan federal court, to “accepting a financial instrument in connection with unlawful Internet gambling.”

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. It was said 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.

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement at the time: “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.”

The gambling bust targeted dozens of individuals and had alleged links to the Russian mob, but, according to Variety, lawyers for Zuriff said he had no knowledge of mafia connections.

As part of his guilty plea, he agreed to forfeit $500,000.

His sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 25.

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