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Wednesday, May 20, 2015

Gambling kingpin Paul Phua faces new charges, says report

Gambling kingpin Paul Phua allegedly ran a multimillion-dollar betting scheme during the FIFA World Cup in 2014 from the Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. – Flickr pic, May 20, 2015.Gambling kingpin Paul Phua allegedly ran a multimillion-dollar betting scheme during the FIFA World Cup in 2014 from the Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. – Flickr pic, May 20, 2015.
Gambling kingpin Paul Phua is facing new charges after American prosecutors re-filed Internet bookmaking charges and added a conspiracy allegation against the Malaysian who is under house arrest in Las Vegas.
Phua had earlier won a court ruling that his rights were violated in a Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) search of his Las Vegas Strip hotel suite where Phua and his son, Darren, had allegedly run an illegal World Cup betting centre.
According to reports by the Associated Press on May 14, Phua, 51, still faces the same two charges – operating an illegal gambling business and transmission of wagering information – filed against him and seven others after their arrest last July in Las Vegas.
Phua posted a US$2 million (RM7.2 million) bond and surrendered a US$50 million aircraft as collateral. The trial is scheduled for June 1.
His lawyer, David Chesnoff was quoted as saying, the charge and fresh indictment was an attempt “to revive a case crippled by governmental misconduct”.
The conspiracy charge carries a five-year jail sentence.
Phua and Darren, 23, were among eight defendants charged in the multimillion-dollar betting scheme during the FIFA World Cup in 2014.
Five defendants from Malaysia and China pleaded guilty in December and were each fined and sentenced to five years’ probation with the condition they stay out of the United States during that period.
The case against a sixth defendant was dismissed.
Prosecutors have alleged that Phua has ties to an Asian crime syndicate and his group made a US$13 million profit in June and July accepting World Cup bets in the scheme which stretched to Macau.
Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi became embroiled in Phua’s case after writing a support letter to the FBI, vouching for Phua.
In his letter dated December 14, 2014, Zahid had said Putrajaya called upon Phua to assist the government from time to time and as such, Putrajaya was eager for him to return to Malaysia.
Zahid had since come under fire for writing the letter, which was exposed by the South China Morning Post (SCMP) on December 31 last year.
- TMI

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