Twelfth Member of Casino-Cheating
Criminal Enterprise Pleads Guilty to Racketeering
Conspiracy Targeting Casinos Across the United
States
Tien Duc Vu, 50, 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. Vu also pleaded
guilty to conspiring to commit theft from the Nooksack
River Casino, an Indian tribal gaming establishment
near Deming, Wash.
A three-count indictment was returned in San Diego
on May 22, 2007, and unsealed on May 24, 2007, charging
Vu 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, Vu agreed to have a
separate indictment against him transferred to San
Diego for plea purposes. The separate indictment, unsealed
on May 24, 2007, in the Western District of Washington,
charged Vu and four others for alleged violations related
to card-cheating activity at the Nooksack River 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, Vu admitted that on numerous
occasions between approximately early 2005 and late
2005, he participated in gambling cheats together with
other alleged members of the Tran Organization at casinos.
These casinos include Nooksack River Casino in Deming,
Wash.; Beau Rivage Casino in Biloxi, Miss.; Foxwoods
Resort Casino in Ledyard, Conn.; and L’Auberge
du Lac Hotel & Casino in Lake Charles, La.
Vu also admitted in his plea agreement that he and
his co-conspirators unlawfully obtained up to $2.5
million during card cheats. In addition, Vu agreed
to the forfeiture of $53,500, in the form of a personal
money judgment. 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. The indictment also alleges that 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 members
of the group would then 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 – totaling up to $868,000 on
one occasion.
Furthermore, the indictment 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.
Vu’s sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 8, 2008
in San Diego, before U.S. District Judge John A. Houston,
in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of
California. At sentencing, Vu 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.
Vu is the twelfth defendant to plead guilty in the
San Diego indictment. Phuong Quoc Truong, Anh Phuong
Tran, Martin Lee Aronson, Liem Thanh Lam, George Michael
Lee, Son Hong Johnson, 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, Wash.,
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 relating to alleged cheating at
the Nooksack River Casino.
