It’s been a rough year for the Arenas family
A very bad year for the family of a former Arizona men’s basketball great just got considerably worse.
Ex-Wildcat Gilbert Arenas has been indicted on federal charges related to alleged illegal high stakes poker games held at a home he owns in California. He is one of six people—another is a suspected organized crime figure from Israel—charged with one count of conspiracy to operate an illegal gambling business, one count of operating an illegal gambling business, and one count of making false statements to federal investigators.
According to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the 43-year-old Arenas and other defendants operated an illegal gambling business out of a mansion he owned in Encino, Calif.
“Arenas rented out an Encino mansion he owned for the purpose of hosting high-stakes illegal poker games,” per the release. “At Arenas’ direction, Arthur Kats, 51, of West Hollywood, staged the mansion to host the games, found co-conspirators to host the games, and collected rent from the co-conspirators on Arenas’ behalf.”
An 11-year NBA veteran, Arenas played for the UA from 1999-2001 and was part of the 2001 squad that made the NCAA championship game. Known as “Agent Zero,” Arenas was a second-round pick of the Golden State Warriors in the 2001 NBA Draft and played for the Warriors, Washington Wizards, Orlando Magic and Memphis Grizzlies.
Arenas’ son, Alijah Arenas, was a UA target in the 2025 recruiting class before committing to and signing with USC. Since then, however, Alijah Arenas was in a serious car accident and last week it was announced he had suffered a knee injury that required surgery and will miss six to eight months.