Scion of the billionaire art-dealing family, Hillel "Helly" Nahmad did not get the leniency he sought from a judge in U.S. District Court in Manhattan on Wednesday. Nahmad was sentenced to one-year in prison for his role in one of the largest gambling and money-laundering rings in the country.

Lawyers for Nahmad, 35, described him as a good person and more than 60 letters from art world figures supported the Upper East Side gallery owner. Citing the scope of the gambling operation which catered to billionaires and celebrities, Judge Jesse Furman concluded that Nahmad had a "disregard for rules that apply to everyone else."

Nahmad had proposed bringing disadvantaged youths on museum trips to educate them about art as an alternative to prison time. Judge Furman disagreed, saying that to allow "his family's wealth to bail him out would breed contempt of the law."

As part of his plea last November, Nahmad forfeited $6.5 million and interest in a Raoul Dufy painting. There were 34 defendants in the case; two were sentenced this week to five years each in prison and another has fled to Russia.