Feds seek to seize $13 million in illegal World Cup betting case

Federal prosecutors are seeking to recover $13 million from seven defendants charged in a betting scheme that accepted wagers on the World Cup soccer tournament.

The forfeiture amount includes more than $650,000 in cash and casino chips seized during a July FBI raid on the international group, as well as four dozen cell phones and 17 iPads and computers, according to court papers prosecutors filed late last week.

Five of the defendants have agreed to plead guilty this week.

Yan Zhang, Yung Keung Fan and Herman Chun Sang Yeung are to plead guilty to misdemeanor charges on Tuesday before U.S. District Judge Andrew Gordon.

Malaysian junketeer Richard Yong and Hong Kong real estate mogul Hui Tang are pleading guilty on Wednesday. Yong, a regular at poker tables in Las Vegas and Macau, is pleading to a misdemeanor, and Tang is pleading to a felony gambling charge.

Gordon plans to sentence the five defendants after their pleas. The defendants are expecting probation, which would allow them to return to their homes in Southeast Asia.

The case against Yong’s son, Wai Kin Yong, is being dismissed, and the remaining two defendants, wealthy Malaysian businessman Paul Phua and his son, Darren, plan to fight gambling charges stemming from the multimillion-dollar scheme.

Last week, defense lawyers filed court papers arguing FBI agents recklessly submitted evidence in sworn search warrant affidavits falsely linking Paul Phua and Richard Yong to a Chinese crime syndicate.

The lawyers, David Chesnoff and Thomas Goldstein, argued that the government had little basis to claim Phua and Yong, the alleged the leaders of the betting ring, were tied to the Hong Kong-based 14K Triad, one of the world’s largest crime organizations.

During the July 9 raid, FBI agents obtained new evidence tying a reputed ranking member of another Chinese Triad to the betting ring that accepted wagers on the World Cup soccer tournament.

Documents seized by agents show a Macau casino junket company associated with Cheung Chi-Tai — whom authorities have identified as a leader of the Hong Kong-based Wo Hop To Triad — was among several companies the betting organization is believed to have used to settle wagers with its wealthy customers.

The evidence was part of hundreds of pages of exhibits attached to court papers filed by federal prosecutors defending the raid at three luxury Caesars Palace villas occupied by the eight defendants.

Defense lawyers have denied any ties between the World Cup betting group and Cheung.

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