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Illicit Gambling Empire Crumbles
A superseding indictment has been unsealed, adding four defendants and several new charges to a case involving an illegal gambling business operating in Sacramento and elsewhere in California. Yaniv Gohar, 35, of Berkeley, Orel Gohar, 28, of San Francisco, and Eran Buhbut, 33, of Oakland, were initially indicted in December 2017, charged with conducting an illegal gambling business.
According to court documents, from September 2015 through November 2017, Yaniv Gohar, Orel Gohar, and Buhbut operated a gambling business that installed and maintained video slot machines at smoke shops and convenience stores throughout Northern California, including in Sacramento, in violation of California laws prohibiting such machines.
The superseding indictment adds four new defendants and several new charges, including two different money laundering conspiracies, two counts of witness tampering, one count of making false statements to the grand jury, and two counts of failure to appear. Orel Gohar is accused of conspiring to launder the proceeds of the gambling business with Atir Dadon, 34, of Sherman Oaks, and Bar Shani, 26, of San Francisco.
Atir Dadon and Bar Shani allegedly engaged in coded conversations, referring to financial transactions as an exchange of bottles or records, and exchanged cash for checks from a company controlled by Dadon and Shani to make Orel Gohar’s income appear legitimate. Yaniv Gohar and Orel Gohar are also charged with conspiring to launder proceeds with Adam Atari, 34, of Sherman Oaks.
Adam Atari allegedly used multiple companies under his control to send checks and electronic bank transfers to Yaniv Gohar in exchange for Yaniv Gohar and Orel Gohar paying his San Francisco area employees in cash that was derived from the gambling business. Atari is also charged with two counts of witness tampering for allegedly attempting to corruptly persuade two of his employees to lie to the FBI about issues related to the money laundering investigation.
Raz Razla, 48, of Sherman Oaks, is charged with making false statements to the grand jury for his statements that he only learned of the charges against Yaniv Gohar in February 2018, when in fact he allegedly knew of those charges in December 2017. Yaniv Gohar and Orel Gohar are also charged with failing to appear at court hearings in January 2018 after having been released from custody after their arraignment on the original indictment.
This case is the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the California Department of Justice – Bureau of Gambling Control. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Matthew M. Yelovich and Miriam R. Hinman are prosecuting the case.
Yaniv Gohar and Orel Gohar fled the United States upon their release in December 2017 and remain at large. Adam Atari was arrested on September 1, 2018, at Los Angeles International Airport, and has been detained pending his appearance in Sacramento. Bar Shani was arrested in San Francisco Monday and ordered detained pending his appearance in Sacramento. Atir Dadon and Raz Razla have their initial court appearances today in Los Angeles.
If convicted, Yaniv Gohar, Orel Gohar, and Buhbut face a maximum statutory penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for the gambling offense. For the money laundering conspiracies, Dadon, Shani, Yaniv Gohar, Orel Gohar, and Atari face a statutory maximum of 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $500,000, or twice the value of the monetary instrument or funds involved, whichever is greater. Any sentence, however, would be determined by the court.
Key Facts
- State: California
- Category: White Collar Crime|Organized Crime
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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