Eleventh Member of Casino-Cheating
Criminal Enterprise Pleads Guilty to Racketeering
Conspiracy Targeting Casinos Across the United
States
Son Hong Johnson, 45,
pleaded guilty today in San Diego to conspiring to
participate in a racketeering enterprise, the “Tran
Organization,” in a scheme to cheat casinos across
the country out of millions of dollars, Acting Assistant
Attorney General for the Criminal Division Matthew
Friedrich, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District
of California Karen P. Hewitt, and U.S. Attorney for
the Western District of Washington Jeffrey C. Sullivan
announced today. Johnson also pleaded guilty to conspiring
to commit theft from the Emerald Queen Casino, an Indian
tribal gaming establishment near Tacoma, Wash.
A three-count indictment was returned in San Diego
on May 22, 2007, and unsealed on May 24, 2007, charging
Johnson and 13 others each with one count of conspiracy
to participate in the affairs of a racketeering enterprise;
one count of conspiracy to commit several offenses
against the U.S., including conspiracy to steal money
and other property from Indian tribal casinos; and
one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.
As part of his plea agreement, Johnson agreed to have
a separate indictment against him transferred to San
Diego for plea purposes. The separate indictment, returned
on May 24, 2007, in the Western District of Washington,
charged Johnson and seven others for alleged violations
related to card-cheating activity at the Emerald Queen
Casino.
The San Diego indictment also charged five separate
individuals each with one count of conspiracy to commit
several offenses against the U.S., including conspiracy
to steal money and other property from Indian tribal
casinos; and one count of conspiracy to commit money
laundering.
In his plea agreement, Johnson admitted that on numerous
occasions between approximately March 2003 and July
2006, he participated in gambling cheats together with
other alleged members of the Tran Organization at casinos,
such as: Emerald Queen Casino in Tacoma; Foxwoods Resort
Casino in Ledyard, Conn.; Mohegan Sun Resort Casino
in Uncasville, Conn.; Resorts East Chicago Hotel and
Casino, East Chicago, Ind.; and Horseshoe Casino and
Hotel, in Tunica, Miss.
Also in the plea agreement, Johnson admitted that
he and his co-conspirators unlawfully obtained up to
$7 million during card cheats. For forfeiture purposes,
he agreed to a personal money judgment in the amount
of $155,000, which will be entered by way of a preliminary
order of forfeiture. He also acknowledged that the
restitution that he may be ordered to pay by the court
at sentencing is not limited by the forfeiture amount.
According to the indictment, the defendants and others
executed a “false shuffle” cheating scheme
at some of the listed casinos during blackjack and
mini-baccarat games. The indictment alleges that members
of the criminal organization bribed casino card dealers
and supervisors to perform false shuffles during card
games, thereby creating “slugs” of un-shuffled
cards. According to the indictment, after tracking
the order of cards dealt in a card game, a member of
the organization would signal to the card dealer to
perform a “false shuffle,” and then members
of the group would bet on the known order of cards
when the slug appeared on the table. By doing so, members
of the conspiracy repeatedly won thousands of dollars
during card games—up to $868,000 on one occasion.
The indictment also alleges that the members of the
organization used sophisticated mechanisms for tracking
the order of cards during games, including hidden transmitter
devices and specially created software that would predict
the order in which cards would reappear during mini-baccarat
and blackjack games.
An indictment is merely an allegation and is not evidence
of guilt. A defendant is entitled to a fair trial in
which it will be the government’s burden to prove
guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
Johnson’s sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 9,
2008, in San Diego, before District Judge John A. Houston,
in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of
California. At sentencing, Johnson faces a maximum
sentence of 20 years in prison on the racketeering
conspiracy charge and a maximum of five years in prison
on the conspiracy charge relating to theft from an
Indian tribal gaming establishment.
Johnson is the eleventh defendant to plead guilty
in the San Diego indictment. Phuong Quoc Truong, Anh
Phuong Tran, Martin Lee Aronson, Liem Thanh Lam, George
Michael Lee, Barry Wellford, Willy Tran, Tuan Mong
Le, Duc Cong Nguyen and Han Truong Nguyen have all
pleaded guilty to charges against them related to this
scheme. Han Truong Nguyen was sentenced on May 12,
2008, to 27 months in prison and ordered to pay $1,896,659
in restitution, payable to designated victims in the
case. Nguyen was also ordered to serve three years
of supervised release. The remaining defendants who
pleaded guilty are awaiting sentencing.
The case is being investigated by the FBI’s
San Diego Field Office; the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal
Investigation; the San Diego Sheriff’s Department;
and the California Department of Justice’s Bureau
of Gambling Control. The investigation has received
assistance from federal, state, tribal, and foreign
authorities, including: the Ontario Provincial Police;
the National Indian Gaming Commission; the U.S. Attorney’s
Office for the Western District of Washington; FBI
Resident Agencies in Gulfport, Miss., Tacoma, and Toledo,
Ohio; the Indiana State Police; the Rumsey Rancheria
Tribal Gaming Agency; the Sycuan Gaming Commission;
the Barona Gaming Commission; the Mississippi Gaming
Commission; the Washington State Gambling Commission;
and others. The prosecution of the case is led by the
Criminal Division’s Organized Crime and Racketeering
Section (OCRS). Department of Justice Trial Attorneys
Joseph K. Wheatley, Robert S. Tully and Gavin A. Corn
are prosecuting the indictment in San Diego. Assistant
U.S. Attorney J. Tate London of the U.S. Attorney’s
Office for the Western District of Washington, is prosecuting
the case in Seattle related to alleged cheating at
the Emerald Queen Casino.
