Molly Bloom Pleads Guilty To Running Illegal Poker Ring

Molly Bloom Pleads Guilty To Running Illegal Poker RingHigh-stakes poker game hostess Molly Bloom has pleaded guilty to charges of helping to run an illegal $100 million high-stakes underground gambling ring catering for celebrities, athletes and Wall Street financiers.

The so-called ‘poker princess’ was just one of 34 people indicted by US federal authorities of being involved in a sprawling scheme tied to Russian and American organized crime enterprises. The 35-year-old Bloom’s role in the gambling ring was limited to running illegal high-stakes poker games at The Plaza Hotel in New York City, with some of her high-profile guests including such celebrities as Leonardo DiCaprio, Alex Rodriquez, Ben Affleck, Tobey Maguire and Matt Damon.

In addition to Bloom, several well-known poker professionals were also charged, including such players as Vadim Trincher, Abe Mosseri, Peter Feldman, John Hanson, and Bill Edler.

After Molly Bloom was indicted in April, she initially faced up to five years behind bars, but eventually agreed to a plea deal in which she would forfeit $125k and serve probation or a six months stint in prison. Commenting on her organizing the illegal high-stakes poker games, Bloom said she didn’t think it was a big deal, and explained:

“The conductors of the game, including me, took a rake..I thought I was committing a misdemeanor.”

Poker pro Vadim Trincher, 52, who won the WPT Foxwoods Poker Classic in 2009 for $731,079, was identified as one of the gambling ring’s two principal ringleaders, along with Anatoly Golubchik. Trincher’s part in the operation involved overseeing “a high-stakes illegal sports gambling business that catered almost exclusively to oligarchs living in the Ukraine and the Russian Federation.” After pleading guilty to racketeering, Vadim Trincher, agreed to forfeit $20 million and face up to 20 years in prison when sentencing takes place on March 20th. However, his plea agreement with the FBI calls for a sentence of up to 27 months.


Poker News
01 May 2018
Last Tuesday, US-facing poker site Americas Cardroom (ACR) was targeted by a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack which crippled the site’s traffic, ultimately leading to a cancellation of the tournaments it was running at the time. After working to resolve the issue, another cyber attack was then launched against ACR on Sunday, meaning that
29 Mar 2018
Last week, Francisco Vallejo Pons, a Spanish chess Grandmaster, pulled out of the European Individual Championship in Batumi, Georgia having made it through to the competition’s fifth round. Vallejo had previously won the event in 2013, and was this year’s fourth placed seed, with the tournament acting as an important qualifier for the 2019 Chess
21 Mar 2018
Earlier this week, Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security (MoPS), headed by General Tran Dai Quang (photo), decided to clarify details about its crackdown on illegal online gambling and money laundering in the country. The move was apparently made because of what was described as “inaccurate reports” circulating about its operation in the northern province of
06 Mar 2018
The Crown Casino in Melbourne is facing disciplinary action that could lead to the suspension of its gaming license following evidence tabled by MP Andrew Wilkie in the federal parliament related to illicit practices in Australia’s slot machine market. As a spokeswoman for the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation (VCGLR) stated on March