United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit August Term, 2021

(Argued: October 7, 2021 Decided: April 12, 2022)

Docket Nos. 20-30 (L), 20-754 (Con) _____________________________________

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Appellee, v.

LEONID GERSHMAN, aka Lenny, aka Lenny G, aka Lyonchik, aka Lyonya, ALEKSEY TSVETKOV, aka Pelmin, aka Lesha, aka Lyosha, Defendants-Appellants, Viktor Zelinger, AKA Vitya, AKA Vityok, Renat Yusufov, AKA Ronnie, AKA Ronik, Igor Krugly, Vyacheslav Malkeyev, AKA Steve Bart, Isok Aronov, Yusif Pardilov, AKA Yosik, Librado Rivera, AKA Macho, AKA Max, Eric Bobritsky, AKA Mamaz Boy, Artiom Pocinoc,

Defendants. _____________________________________ Before: JACOBS AND MENASHI, CIRCUIT JUDGES, AND CRONAN, DISTRICT JUDGE*

A jury convicted Defendants-Appellants Leonid Gershman and Aleksey Tsvetkov of a slew of offenses for their role in a Brooklyn-based crime syndicate.

* Judge John P. Cronan, of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, sitting by designation. They now appeal their convictions and sentences. Because we find that their challenges lack merit, the District Court’s judgment is AFFIRMED. Judge Jacobs concurs in part and dissents in part in a separate opinion.

Kevin Trowel (Andrey Spektor and Mark J. Lesko, on the brief), Assistant United States Attorney, for Breon Peace, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, for Appellee.

Steven Yurowitz, Newman & Greenberg LLP, for Defendant-Appellant Leonid Gershman.

Murray Singer, Murray E. Singer, Esq., for Defendant-Appellant Aleksey Tsvetkov.

CRONAN, District Judge:

This appeal involves the convictions of two members of a Brooklyn-based crime syndicate. Like a well-run business, the syndicate diversified its activities: arson, extortion, illegal gambling, marijuana distribution, firearms trafficking, and wire fraud. After several members of the syndicate pleaded guilty, two members, Appellants Leonid Gershman and Aleksey Tsvetkov, proceeded to trial. Following a three-week trial, a jury convicted Gershman and Tsvetkov of numerous crimes, including racketeering offenses. Each man was sentenced principally to 198 months’ imprisonment. Gershman and Tsvetkov now appeal

2 their convictions, raising a host of arguments to include challenges to the admissibility of certain trial testimony, the correctness of the jury charge, the sufficiency of the Government’s proof, and the lawfulness of their sentences. Because we find that all their challenges lack merit, we affirm their convictions and sentences.

I. BACKGROUND 1 A. Illegal Gambling

The gambling crimes began in early 2016. At that time, Gershman, Tsvetkov, and Renat Yusufov began hosting weekly high-stakes poker games at a building off McDonald Avenue in Brooklyn, New York (“McDonald Avenue Poker Spot”). The McDonald Avenue Poker Spot was short-lived, however, thanks to a police raid just over a month after the games began.

Undeterred, Gershman, Tsvetkov, and Yusufov swiftly moved their gambling operation