This article was produced in collaboration with Court Watch, an independent outlet that unearths overlooked court records.
Alex Bogomolny ensured his new clients that he was working on cleaning $20,000 of their drug money. “We have a big team,” he told the clients in a text message on December 6, 2023. “BlackSnake Team,” he added.
The plan was to create accounts with different casinos and sportsbooks, and in particular FanDuel, a very popular betting platform that has led the charge in the legitimization and surging popularity of sports betting in the U.S. Fresh accounts had limits on how much money they could deposit, but Bogomolny sent the clients screenshots of what established accounts were eventually capable of. They showed the accounts’ total winnings: $883,072.28 in one. $2,786,797.39 in another. The idea was that dirty money went in, legitimately gambled winnings came out.