New Trier grad sentenced to more than 2 years in federal prison for stealing millions to bankroll high-rolling Las Vegas lifestyle

North Shore native Robert Gorodetsky lived for years as “Big Rob”, a conspicuous Las Vegas sports gamer with luxury cars, designer clothes and seemingly limitless assets.

But Big Rob was just a big scam, according to federal prosecutors. And on Thursday he finally went broke.

A federal judge sentenced Gorodetsky, a New Trier High School graduate who used to walk down the school hallway numbers, to more than two years in prison for stealing $ 10 million from an investor for outrageous wagering and a high-end Las lifestyle Vegas had gambled away.

Gorodetsky, 28, of Northbrook, pleaded guilty to wire transfer fraud and false tax returns last year. US District Judge Elaine Bucklo sentenced Gorodetsky not only to a 28-month prison term, but also to repay $ 7.2 million in outstanding losses.

With his custom-made cap with the word “GAMBLR”, high-end jewelry and luxury cars, Gorodetsky carefully maintained his image on Instagram and regularly posted photos of himself hanging out with beautiful women and professional athletes, the Chicago Tribune first reported in January 2020.

However, prosecutors alleged that while Gordetsky had made a name for himself, he also orchestrated a massive fraud scheme against a single victim who invested millions of dollars on him on the erroneous assumption that the funds were wisely invested and would generate handsome dividends.

Instead, Gorodetsky used the money to fund his Las Vegas operation, wagered recklessly on sporting events, and lived a lavish lifestyle that was both celebrated on social media and despised by some veteran gamblers.

In total, Gorodetsky stole nearly $ 10 million from the investor – who was only identified as victim A – from 2014 to 2017, according to the indictment.

The son of a radiologist father and a mother who works in real estate, Gorodetsky grew up on the north coast and graduated from New Trier in 2010, records show. His interest in gambling began in high school when, according to news reports, he was using his father’s Ameritrade account to trade on his laptop in class.

The story goes on

His attorney Chris Gair recently wrote in a lawsuit that Gorodetsky was a pathological gambler who “could only focus on one thing: the rush he felt with his gambling winnings”. He was suspended from New Trier for taking his classmates’ money from poker games and setting up an arcade at the school, according to the file.

He attended the University of Arizona, but dropped out before completing his freshman year.

After a stint as a professional poker player, Gorodetsky’s profile as a loner sports bettor rose dramatically in December 2017, with a long USA Today profile calling him “one of the most compelling and controversial” personalities in the sport.

The article described how Gorodetsky wagered more than $ 1 million in a week this fall, $ 350,000 on a single NFL Sunday, and tens of thousands of dollars more on Major League Baseball games, the NBA, tennis, Has lost soccer and even high school sports.

Gorodetsky was known for placing wild, high-risk parlays with little or no research on the teams or players, according to the profile. He claimed to have won up to 65% of his sports betting – a number that was immediately questioned by gambling experts on online blogs.

According to the criminal complaints, Gorodetsky fraudulently received more than $ 953,000 from Victim A over a four month period beginning in February 2014 “for the purported purpose of investing in the stock market.” Instead, he used most of that – $ 737,000 – for himself.

In July 2014, Gorodetsky falsely told the victim that his original investment had risen to $ 2 million as a result of successful trades, but that according to the indictment, “greater returns would be achieved with sports betting.”

Over the next three years, Gorodetsky continued to ask victim A for more money, making false statements regarding the victim’s account balance, the amount and type of bets Gorodetsky placed, as well as the winnings and losses of those bets and Gorodetsky’s spending on luxury items, after fees .

During that period, Gorodetsky spent at least $ 2.2 million of the victim’s money on items unrelated to sports betting, including his living, travel, and entertainment expenses, as well as buying luxury cars and jewelry, it said.

According to USA Today’s profile, Gorodetsky arrived at casinos with $ 6,000 Louis Vuitton hoodies and $ 2,500 high top sneakers. He also rolled with a “colorful crew” that included a finance manager, an enforcer and a pickup artist, it said.

jmeisner@chicagotribune.com