Ray Donovan producer Bryan Zuriff was the first defendant of the Russian-American bi-coastal sports betting/high-stakes poker ring to reach a deal with the US Department of Justice, pleading guilty last July to accepting financial instruments for unlawful internet gambling. By being the first, Zuriff was also the first to be sentenced.
Yesterday, the 44-year old father of four children received his punishment: two years probation. That sentence was actually much lighter than what Zuriff could have faced if prosecutors had their way, who had initially sought to send Zuriff in jail for a year, arguing that he and art dealer Helly Nahmad, the other co-accused who recently pled guilty to a single charge of operating an illegal gambling business, were co-conspirators in the elaborate – and illegal – bookmaking scheme.
But Zuriff received a much lighter sentence after U.S. District Judge Jesse M. Furman acknowledged that he deserved credit for being the first one to raise his hand and admit his guilt. The judge didn’t publicly acknowledge this, but could be that he was swayed by Zuriff’s character references, which came from actor-writer-director Peter Berg, producer Mark Gordon and actor Jon Voight. Maybe he was a fan of Ray Donovan?
In any case, Zuriff’s sentence also includes a judge order to perform 300 hours of community service and a fine of $20,000. And that was on top of forfeiting $500,000. That may sound like a whole lot of wad to fork over, but then again, all these penalties are still a whole lot better than spending a year in jail.
