Leader of Sports-Gambling Ring Gets Year in Prison Hillel 'Helly' Nahmad, Son of Billionaire Art Dealer, Admitted to Providing Financing Posted By: Varun Patra
April 25, 2014
The son of a billionaire art collector was sentenced Wednesday to serve a year and a day in prison for running a sports-gambling ring that booked millions of dollars in bets. Hillel "Helly" Nahmad, 35 years old, was arrested in April 2013 along with 33 others, including some reputed Russian organized-crime figures, and was originally charged with racketeering, money laundering and fraud. In November, he pleaded guilty to operating an illegal gambling business. As part of his plea, he admitted he was one of the leaders and organizers and the prime financing source of the illegal sports-gambling business. The other charges were dismissed as a result of that agreement. Mr. Nahmad's attorney, Benjamin Brafman, asked U.S. District Court Judge Jesse Furman to spare Mr. Nahmad from prison. "I have learned a very, very hard, humiliating lesson. A humbling one," Mr. Nahmad said. Judge Furman didn't appear moved. "I think there is only way to make Mr. Nahmad understand his actions have consequences…and that is not to cut him a break and use more of his family's money but instead it is to send him to prison," the judge said. Mr. Nahmad was ordered to surrender himself to authorities on June 16 to begin his sentence. Under the sentencing guidelines, Mr. Nahmad will have to serve more than 10 months of his sentence before he is eligible for release. Mr. Brafman said they won't appeal the sentence. In court, Mr. Brafman said that Mr. Nahmad's father was a world-class backgammon player and a gambler. "He grew up in a culture where gambling was legal and gambling with high stakes was not only done but it was normal," Mr. Brafman said.
In a pre-sentencing memo to the judge, the lawyers wrote that Mr. Nahmad was an "inveterate gambler" who began betting on the Knicks when he was 14 and was once thrown out of a casino in Monaco when he was 15 after being caught playing the slot machines. But Mr. Brafman said Mr. Nahmad stopped gambling cold-turkey after his arrest almost a year ago. He told the judge that initially Mr. Nahmad and his friends were simply making bets with a group of friends, which he argued isn't illegal, and only in 2012 did they start booking bets from others. The judge, who criticized Mr. Nahmad for trying to minimalize his role in the operation, also ordered him to pay a $30,000 fine. As part of his plea agreement, Mr. Nahmad also will repay $6.4 million he reaped in the Internet-based gambling ring and forfeit his rights to the painting "Carnaval a Nice, 1937" by Raoul Dufy. The judge said that while the original charges were more serious than what Mr. Nahmad ultimately pleaded guilty to, he still "played a significant role in a long-standing and real criminal" enterprise. But the judge said he found Mr. Nahmad's conduct regarding the Dufy painting "incredibly telling." In April 2012, a telephone call was recorded in which Mr. Nahmad discussed with one of the co-defendants in the case selling a painting to a woman who they were friends with for $50,000 to $75,000 more than it was actually worth. The judge said while Mr. Nahmad may claim that "the thrill of the bet" was his motivation for his gambling, he was at a loss as to why someone whose family has "more money than anyone could ever need," would use his reputation as an art dealer to defraud a friend of an amount that is probably a lot for her but is nothing for him. "It tells me Mr. Nahmad just doesn't get it," the judge said.
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