Boss of casino cheating ring that took $7M pleads guilty to charges

SAN DIEGO (AP) — A fired card dealer accused of leading a crew that swindled casinos out of $7 million has pleaded guilty to multiple charges in what government lawyers called one of largest cheating schemes ever broken up.

Phuong Quoc Truong, 42, known as Pai Gow John, ran the San Diego-based operation. He pleaded guilty

Wednesday to racketeering conspiracy and theft charges.
The ring, which included the son of the mayor of Seattle, bribed casino supervisors and card dealers and used unshuffled blocks of cards. Investigators wrote that members of the crew would signal a card dealer to do a false shuffle, then bet on the known order of the cards.
The ring also used hidden transmitters and software to predict the order in which shuffled cards would appear in blackjack and mini-baccarat.

Authorities said the scheme victimized 16 gambling operations in California, Nevada, Mississippi, Louisiana, Washington state, Indiana and Connecticut, 10 owned by Indian tribes.

“We are not aware of any other cases of this magnitude,” Kathy D. Leodler of the San Diego FBI’s field office said when the indictments were unsealed in May 2007.

The ring’s biggest score was when one of Truong’s associates won $868,000 in 90 minutes in October 2005 after a dealer’s false shuffle at the Resorts East Chicago hotel and casino in East Chicago, Ind.

Truong admitted conspiring to cheat Sycuan Resort and Casino, his former employer. He had been a dealer at the San Diego-area casino until he was fired in 2002.

Investigators said he performed a false shuffle there that let his associates win $525.

Truong faces up to 20 years in prison. His sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 15.

As part of his plea agreement, he is turning over $2.8 million, including two houses in the San Diego area and a 2001 Porsche Carrera.

Truong is the seventh of 19 members of the ring charged in San Diego federal court to plead guilty.

He also pleaded guilty to charges in a related case in Washington state. Among those charged was Jacob Nickels, 26, son of Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels. Jacob Nickels was sentenced in December to three months in prison.