In July, 2014 the department of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement released Wei Seng ‘Paul’ (Paul) and his son Darren Phua (Phua) from the Henderson Detention Center. The release marked the end of the ugly events following the arrest of the duo on charges of running an illegal sports betting ring. Below is the whole episode of their arrest in the betting case:
June 18
After spending some time in Las Vegas during early June, Paul flied to Macau, where he was immediately arrested upon his arrival. Paul was one of the 22 persons who were arrested for illegal betting during the world cup. However, it was not clear whether he was involved in the illegal betting racket. As per the arrest documents that were filed in the US District of Nevada, Phua was identified as a high ranking member of a Triad known as 14K. 14K was one of the largest criminal organizations in the world with its tentacles spread all over the world. Upon his arrest, Phua applied for a bail and was released within two days.
June 23
Paul Phua returned to Las Vegas on his personal Gulf-stream jet, and started staying at one of the three villas that were occupied by the other big shots like Yongs, Hui Tang, and others. Yong was living in the villa since June 6, while Tang was staying there since June 7, and Phua checked in and was mentioned in the records to be staying there since June 11. All these three rooms where they were staying were later discovered to be connected with large amounts of electronics equipment like monitors and desktops. All this electronic equipment was connected through a total of eight DSL lines.
July 3
On July 3, the law enforcement authorities including FBI interviewed the IT specialists who connected all the three rooms where Phua and others were staying. One of Phua’s associates requested a brand new laptop and the FBI joined the technical team that went to fix the laptop under disguise. One of the butler who was working for the room where Phua was staying blocked their access. On July 5, agents from FBI visited the villas under the disguise of technical specialists and noticed that Phua was connected to an online sports betting site called SBOBET.
July 9
After getting authorization from the U.S. magistrate Nancy J. Koppe, agents from the FBI and the Nevada Gaming Control Board searched the villas where Phua and others were staying. During the search, the authorities seized gambling records, $ 500,000 casino chips and $ 33,441 in U.S. bills.
Some of the equipment that was installed at the location was also seized. At the time of the raid, Yong was sitting alone in the room while Phua and Tang were watching the match between Netherlands and Argentina in another room. Despite the seizure of the equipment, no one was arrested during the raid. Many of the computers that were seized during the raid had the Team-Viewer program installed in it. This program allows remote access to computers from anywhere in the world.
July 14
In the final showdown, warrants for the arrest of all the eight people involved in the case were issued. Paul Phua, Darren Phua, Kin Yong, Richard Yong, Yan Zhang, Hui Tang, Yung Fan, and Sang Yeung were charged with transmitting wagering information and running an illegal gambling business. Ivey, Dwan, Robl and other players who have played high-stake games at the Macau casino deposited $500,000 for the bail of each person who were arrested. But by July 27,the Phuas were detained by the US Immigration and Customs enforcement for deporting them to their home countries.
They were finally released on Monday night, when Phua’s flight was put as a personal collateral. Despite the bail, Richard and Wai Kin were kept in custody as they were considered as flight threats.
The arrest and the subsequent release of the detainees marked the toughening of stand by the law enforcement agencies on people who were involved in illegal activities like betting. The scale of crackdown has never been seen before in the poker industry.