Los Angeles ICE officials arrested and charged Israeli poker player Gal Yifrach.

Israeli poker player Gal Yifrach was detained by ICE at Los Angeles airport. He faces charges of illegal gambling and money laundering, and has won the NAPT Main Event and a WSOP gold bracelet.

Israeli poker player Gal Yifrach is facing federal illegal gambling charges. He was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at Los Angeles Airport on July 20.

It remains unclear why the 2025 PokerStars North American Poker Tour (NAPT) Main Event champion has been detained, or where he arrived from. Online searches indicate he is currently being held at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center in Southern California. PokerNews has contacted the agency for further details and is awaiting a response.

Poker players face more legal troubles

Yifrach has a record of over $2.9 million in live tournament winnings on The Hendon Mob. He was indicted in 2022 on one count of operating an illegal gambling business and one count of conspiracy to launder money. The case is still pending trial.

According to the indictment, from around January 2018 to January 2022, the poker pro operated an illegal gambling business involving "supplying, operating and maintaining video slot machines and equipment".

The money laundering charges in the indictment involve converting cash from illegal casinos into clean funds, investigators said. As the indictment states, he then used these funds to invest in real estate and other purchases.

Authorities allege that Yifrach laundered money in several different ways. One of these methods involved exchanging alleged illegal gambling proceeds for casino chips at a casino in Bell Gardens, California (referred to as "Casino 1" in the documents). He then allegedly took these casino chips to the casino to cash in checks, which were then deposited into his bank account.

Yifrach is a high-stakes cash game player in Los Angeles who has appeared on Live at the Bike and Hustler Casino Live programs multiple times. He has not been detained since his arrest four years ago. While awaiting trial, he continued playing poker, even winning the NAPT Main Event at Resorts World last year for $543,025 and beating 405 entries in the $5,300 buy-in PokerStars Branded Championship.

This victory came just days after he celebrated his 39th birthday. But his immigrant status could keep him incarcerated until his upcoming 40th birthday. Yifrach is an Israeli citizen who has long resided in the United States. He won a World Series of Poker (WSOP) gold bracelet in 2018 when he took the $3,000 six-max No-Limit Hold'em event, winning $461,791.

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