Casino Scam Boss Pleads Guilty
The leader of a criminal organization that swindled sixteen casinos in seven states pled guilty on Wednesday to charges of racketeering, conspiracy, and theft. Phuong Quoc Truong admitted that he had run a group which bribed casino employees and took over $7 million by fixing card games like blackjack and mini-baccarat.
Truong, known as Pai Gow John, was a former card dealer who had been fired by the Sycuan Resort and Casino in California for false shuffling, allowing an acquaintance to win $525. He then took the concept of false shuffling, in which a dealer pretends to shuffle but leaves the cards in order so that players know the order, to a much higher level.
Prosecutors say Truong bribed pit bosses and dealers, then had associates play hands, signalling the dealers when to false shuffle. The group also used transmitters linked to gang members equipped with software that would predict card order.
Casinos in California, Nevada, Mississippi, Louisiana, Washington, Indiana and Connecticut were hit by the gang. The take varied from one operation to the next, with the largest being $868,000 swindled from an Indiana casino in an hour and a half.
Truong agreed to turn over two houses he owns in the San Diego area, as well as a Porsche Carrera, as part restitution. He still faces twenty years in jail.
Nineteen members of the ring have been charged, and Truong is the seventh to plead guilty. Among the others, one is the son of the mayor of Seattle, Jacob Nickels, who was involved in schemes in Washington casinos and received a three-month sentence.
