Triple Crown hopefuls. Convicted felons. Seven figures in alleged gambling debt.
Horse racing, everyone!
Ahmed Zayat, the owner of Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner American Pharoah, has been accused of owing $1.65 million to Howard Rubinsky, an X-ray technician in Florida who used to help high-end gamblers find offshore sportsbooks.
There’s a whole lot to this story, which is worth a full read over at NJ.com, but here are the key details.
- Rubinsky claims Zayat set up a credit line through him and then quickly racked up $2 million in losses, of which he only paid $350,000, leaving the $1.65 million owed.
- Zayat and Rubinsky met sometime between 2001 and 2003. Zayat wrote Rubinsky a check for $25,000 in 2008. Rubinsky claims that was part of the gambling debt, while Zayat says, “Rubinsky told me he needed help because he could not afford to live or even to buy food, and could not afford to attend to his health issues.”
- This isn’t the first time Zayat has been linked to illegal gambling. In 2010, court records claimed he was owed $600,000 by brothers Jeffrey and Michael Jelinsky. The Jelinsky brothers, who introduced Zayat to Rubinsky, were convicted in 2009 for illegal bookmaking. Zayat, naturally, played dumb again: “Unbeknownst to me, I was a victim of a large scam the Jelinskys perpetrated on me.”
- Zayat’s attorneys say the current lawsuit is “meritless” and want it thrown out. The judge’s decision should come soon.
The most unbelievable part of the story? That’s probably this from the forum at Horse Racing Talk.
[Rubinsky] earlier set Zayat up to wager at Pinnacle Sports in Curacao, Rubinsky said in his sworn deposition, adding that Zayat won $1.4 million in a short time and was banned by the owner of the sports book because “he’s too sharp, I don’t want this kind of business.”
It’s important to remember, of course, that all of this is alleged. But a big-wig horse owner who likes to throw down huge bets on sports? That doesn’t exactly sound farfetched.