Federal prosecutors: World Cup betting suspect may have bribed his way to freedom in Macau

Federal prosecutors say one of the alleged ringleaders of a massive World Cup betting scheme may have “bribed” his way out of Macau following his arrest there in June.

Paul Phua flew from Macau on his $48 million private jet to Las Vegas, where he and eight associates were later arrested and charged in a similar alleged betting scheme that operated out of luxury Caesars Palace villas, according to court documents filed Monday.

In the documents, prosecutors say text messages collected from his son’s cellphone during a July 9 court-authorized raid show that between $4 million and $5 million in Hong Kong dollars, roughly $515,000 to $644,000 in U.S. currency, was paid by Phua “under the table” to get released from custody in Macau.

Prosecutors attached copies of text messages on Darren Phua’s phone to support the bribe allegations.

One June 19 message says that one of the Macau officers who arrested Paul Phua was a friend of his and that “they are negotiating now. Hopefully, they want only money.”

Prosecutors called Phua, a wealthy Malaysian businessman who frequents casino poker tables in Macau and Las Vegas, a “known member” of the Hong Kong-based 14K Triad, one of the world’s largest criminal syndicates.

His Las Vegas lawyer, David Chesnoff, said Monday the bribe allegations are untrue.

“We vehemently deny these allegations, which interestingly were unknown to law enforcement but for their illegal search and were only cited to unfairly prejudice Mr. Phua,” Chesnoff said. “We challenge the government to bring any real evidence of Mr. Phua’s involvement with any so-called Triad.”

In their court papers Monday, prosecutors defended the conduct of FBI and state gaming agents who raided the three Caesars Palace villas looking for evidence of a betting scheme.

Chesnoff and Washington lawyer Thomas Goldstein filed motions last month to toss out what agents seized because of a “warrantless” search at the high-roller villas.

They alleged that agents used a ruse to illegally obtain evidence days before they won court permission to conduct the July 9 raid.

The agents had the Internet service shut off at villas occupied by the defendants in July and with the resort’s help posed as technicians to enter the rooms to determine the extent of what they believed was a multimillion-dollar illegal gambling operation, the defense lawyers wrote.

“The searches were unconstitutional,” Goldstein and Chesnoff said in their court papers. “This is not a close case.”

They added, “A ruling upholding these intrusions would cause innocent Americans to live their daily lives burdened with the palpable fear that their government is regularly scheming to spy on them in their homes.”

But Assistant U.S. Attorney Kimberly Frayn responded Monday that agents acted properly and did not violate the constitutional rights of the eight defendants charged in the scheme.

“Indeed, the record makes clear that law enforcement had ample reason to suspect defendants of illegal bookmaking before raising any ruse in this matter,” Frayn wrote.

“Law enforcement began to investigate defendants after Caesars personnel saw things inside defendants’ villas that caused them to be concerned with the possibility of criminal activity,” she wrote.

Several well-known members of the professional poker world have rallied behind the Phuas and the other defendants charged in Las Vegas.

Phua, 50, and his son Darren Phua, 23, are free on bail posted by World Series of Poker champion Phil Ivey and another well-known poker player.

Authorities have alleged that the schemes in Macau and Las Vegas involved hundreds of millions of dollars in illegal World Cup wagers. More than 20 other people were arrested with Phua in Macau.

Contact Jeff German at jgerman@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-8135. Find him on Twitter: @JGermanRJ