Another high profile figure from the New York illegal gambling “art dealer” bust earlier this year, Molly Bloom aka the Poker Princess, entered a guilty plea Thursday before a federal court in New York.
Bloom specialised in hosting high stakes poker games for celebrities, starting in Los Angeles and moving to New York before returning to LA three years ago; she stands charged of involvement in an allegedly Russian-American organised crime enterprise that laundered $100 million garnered through illegal online sports betting activity.
Media reports have linked actors like Leonardo DiCaprio and Ben Affleck to Bloom’s games, but both have declined to comment.
She was among over 30 persons arrested earlier this year in a federal swoop (see previous reports) after investigators uncovered an international money flow that included Bloom’s poker operations. Whilst playing poker is legal, organising unlicensed poker games for profit is not.
Bloom (35) admitted to taking a rake from her games and will be sentenced in April next year.