Just two days after New York art world figure Hillel ‘Helly’ Nahmad pled guilty for his role in the ‘Taiwanchik-Trincher’ sports betting and high-stakes poker ring, Vadim Trincher (pictured) and his son Eugene have entered their own guilty pleas. Appearing before US District Judge Jesse M. Furman in a Manhattan courtroom on Thursday, the elder Trincher pled guilty to participating in a racketeering conspiracy that processed tens of millions of dollars of wagering proceeds through banks in Russia, Cyprus and the United States. Eugene pled guilty to operating an illegal gambling business.
The elder Trincher – a well-known poker pro who collected $731k for winning the 2009 World Poker Tour Foxwoods Poker Classic – was identified in the April 2013 indictment as one of the three principal leaders of the Taiwanchik-Trincher Organization. Trincher’s role was described as overseeing “a high-stakes illegal sports gambling business that catered almost exclusively to oligarchs living in the Ukraine and the Russian Federation.” Originally charged with illegal gambling, racketeering, extortion and money laundering, Trincher has agreed to forfeit cash and property worth $20m and faces 20 years in stripes when he’s sentenced on March 20.
Eugene Trincher stood accused of running a high-stakes poker game in New York City between 2010 and April 2013, the month the indictments were unsealed. The 27-year-old California resident agreed to forfeit an unspecified sum garnered via his illegal activities. He faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison when he’s sentenced on March 24.
The two Trinchers mark the 15th and 16th members of the 34-member ring to have pled guilty. Preet Bharara, US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said his office “will not stop until … everyone involved in this international crime ring is held to account.” The first indicted figure in this case to enter a guilty plea, television producer Bryan Zuriff, faces sentencing on Nov. 25.
