A man who led a major ring that ripped off casinos throughout the U.S., including Washington state, was sentenced Monday in San Diego to 70 months in prison. According to federal prosecutors, Phuong Quoc Truong and members of his "Tran Organization" cheated casinos of up to $7 million.
In addition to the prison term, Truong was ordered to forfeit $2.7 million and pay $5.7 million in restitution to several casinos. The court also ordered the forfeiture of Truong's interests in two houses in the San Diego area, two properties in Vietnam, a 2001 Porsche Carrera, a Rolex watch and a diamond-encrusted pendant.
Truong pleaded guilty on April 2, 2008, to conspiracy to participate in the affairs of a racketeering enterprise.
According to the three indictments involving members of the Tran Organization, the defendants and others executed a "false shuffle" cheating scheme at casinos in the U.S. and Canada during blackjack and mini-baccarat games. The indictments allege that members of the criminal organization bribed casino card dealers and supervisors to perform false shuffles during card games, thereby creating "slugs" or groups of unshuffled cards. The indictments also allege 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.
Among those indicted in connection with the scam was Jacob Nickels, the son of then-Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels. He was sentenced to three months in prison in December 2007.
Vietnamese man sentenced for bilking $7M from casinos in U.S
A man who led a major ring that ripped off casinos throughout the U.S of up to $7 million was sentenced to 70 months in prison.
Source: Seattle Times
