High Ranking #14KTriad Member Among 8 Charged with Running Illegal World Cup Gambling Operation from @CaesarsPalace Villas

Seven men and one woman have been charged with operating an illegal gambling business from several exclusive high roller villas at Caesars Palace from approximately June 6 to July 9, 2014, announced Daniel G. Bogden, United States Attorney for the District of Nevada.

Wei Seng Phua, 50, Darren Wai Kit Phua, 22, Seng Chen Yong, 56, Wai Kin Yong, 22, all of Malaysia; Hui Tang, 44, of China; and Yan Zhang, 40, Yung Keung Fan, 46, and Herman Chun Sang Yeung, 36, all of Hong Kong, are charged in a criminal complaint and are scheduled to make initial court appearances before U.S. Magistrate Judge Carl W. Hoffman at 3:00 p.m. today. The defendants were arrested in Las Vegas on July 13, 2014, by law enforcement agents with the FBI and Nevada Gaming Control Board. Each defendant is charged with one count of unlawful transmission of wagering information and one count of operating an illegal gambling business. If convicted, they face up to two years in prison on the unlawful transmission count and up to five years in prison on the illegal gambling business count, as well as fines on each count of up to $250,000.

According to the criminal complaint, Wei Seng Phua, is known by law enforcement to be a high ranking member of the 14K Triad, an Asian organized crime group. On or about June 18, 2013, Phua was arrested in Macau, along with more than 20 other individuals, for operating an illegal sport book gambling business transacting illegal bets on the World Cup Soccer Tournament. Phua posted bail in Macau and was released. The complaint alleges that on June 23, 2014, Phua arrived in Las Vegas, Nev., to continue with his associates their illegal gambling business at a local casino. During early June 2014, three villas were reserved at a Caesars Palace at the request of Wei Seng Phua or one of his associates. Between June 6 and June 11, 2014, Phua and two of his associates, Seng Chen Yong and Hui Tang, checked into the villas. Phua and his associates allegedly requested that Caesars Palace install an unusually large amount of electronics equipment in the villas to support eight (8) Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) lines, and WiFi access. Caesars Palace installed and set up the equipment, but became concerned the equipment appeared to be a set-up for an illegal gambling operation. In one of the villas, computer screens were observed which looked similar to the ones in the casino’s sports book, including five stations and three monitors attached to each station. Each station’s computer tower was hooked up to a Century Link DSL line with voice over Internet protocol phones. Near the computer stations, there were three large screen televisions with service from Cox, Dish and Direct TV, each of which was tuned to World Cup soccer games. The Nevada Gaming Control Board, subsequently determined that the set-up was similar to a “wire room” where illegal wagers are made and monitored, and that the defendants were monitoring the World Cup and betting odds associated with World Cup soccer games in furtherance of operating a gambling business. Over the next month, law enforcement agents worked undercover and monitored the activity in the villas. On July 9, 2014, federal search warrants were executed at the three villas and law enforcement agents recovered gambling records, computer equipment, and other items. The defendants were arrested after it was determined that they were allegedly remotely controlling computers based overseas which allowed them to operate and manage their illegal gambling business from Las Vegas.