Written by :
Published on :
- Court-sanctioned warrant to monitor Russians occurred between 2011 and 2013
- 33 individuals charged for their involvement in illegal gambling ring run out of Trump Tower
- Operation was run three floors below US President Donald Trump’s penthouse
- Ringleader sentenced to five years behind bars
ABC News elaborated further on reports that the FBI had been surveying Russians residing in Trump Tower, noting that such activity occurred between the years 2011 and 2013.
The FBI had a court-sanctioned warrant from 2011 to 2013 to monitor a Russian crime organization working out of a unit three floors below President Trump’s penthouse, according to an ABC News report. 33 individuals were indicted as a result of that investigation. Most of those charged were Russians.
Among those arrested at the time, the Russian ring leader of a gambling syndicate that ran out of Trump Tower, Vadim Trincher.
Then-U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, Preet Bharara, stated that the crimes included “operating an illegal gambling business, money laundering, and extortion.”
Trincher was overheard threatening gambling clients according to court documents. He later confessed to running the operation, which took bets on mostly soccer games from gamblers in both the US and throughout Europe. Some of his clients were billionaires.
Trincher was ultimately sentenced to five years prison time after pleading guilty to a single count of racketeering conspiracy
News of the Russian gambling wiretap resurfaced following US President Donald Trump’s claims that former President Barack Obama had ordered the wiretapping of his own penthouse though the intelligence community on Monday claimed there was no evidence to back up this assertion.
- Nagesh Rath, Gambling911.com
