Sherman Oaks Men Sentenced And Plead Guilty To Conspiring To Launder Money From Illegal Gambling Business

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Atir Dadon, 34, of Sherman Oaks, was sentenced on June 14, 2019, to 22 months for conspiring to launder money, and co-defendant Adam Atari, 35, of Sherman Oaks, pleaded guilty today to conspiring to launder money, U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott announced.

According to court documents, Dadon and Atari each conspired with other co-defendants to launder the cash proceeds of an illegal gambling business run by Orel Gohar, 28, of San Francisco, and Yaniv Gohar, 35 of Berkeley, that placed and maintained video slot machines at businesses in Northern California, including Sacramento and other locations in the Eastern District of California.

According to court documents, between October 2016 and November 2017, Dadon conspired to launder money with Orel Gohar and Bar Shani, 27, of San Francisco. They agreed that Shani and Dadon would take the cash from the gambling business and use it to pay the workers in their cosmetics business. In exchange, Shani and Dadon would arrange for Orel Gohar to receive checks from the cosmetics business. Dadon indicated in the memo lines on the checks that Orel Gohar had provided consulting and training services when in fact, he had not. They used code words in their conversations about the transactions, referring to the money as bottles of alcohol or other non-cash items. Shani and Dadon laundered over $150,000 from the Gohars’ gambling business. Shani pleaded guilty on April 26.

According to court documents, between January 2015 and December 2017, Atari conspired to launder money with Orel Gohar and Yaniv Gohar. They agreed that the Gohars would use cash from the gambling business to pay Atari’s employees in his home improvement and construction businesses. In exchange, Atari would send checks and electronic transfers from his businesses to Yaniv Gohar.  Atari laundered approximately $490,000 from the Gohars’ gambling business. To cover up his money laundering, Atari lied to the FBI and directed his employees to lie to the FBI about the nature of his transactions with the Gohars.

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. Anyone with information about their whereabouts should call the FBI at (916) 746-7000.

Charges are pending against co-defendants Raz Razla, 48, of Sherman Oaks, and Eran Buhbut, 33, of Oakland. These charges are only allegations; the defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

Atari is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Garland E. Burrell, Jr., on August 30, 2019. Atari faces a statutory maximum penalty 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. The actual sentence, however, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.