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Paul Phua and seven others arrested for illegal World Cup bets at Caesars Paul Phua and seven others arrested for illegal World Cup bets at Caesars

11-16-2015 , 08:45 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by ChicagoRy
I understand most of that. What I'm wondering is, if Phua really runs a legal gambling business (as Tom said, though I guess he didn't technically say Phua didn't also do illegal stuff), then why would Caesers even turn him in in the first place, let alone FBI jump on it heavily?

Caesers in particular... these players likely were worth millions of dollars per year in profits to the casino. You wouldn't turn them into the government lightly.
I think not long before some one was caught laundering nearly $50m through vegas casinos

A small government agency then seems to have gone round threatening the casinos with all kinds of awful if they didn't report suspicious acitivity

Guess they figured it was better to keep them sweet and loose a very higgh rollers
Paul Phua and seven others arrested for illegal World Cup bets at Caesars Quote
11-16-2015 , 09:06 AM
I'm guessing you would be talking about the asian born, mexican pharma CEO (allegedly meth manufacturer and distributer) Zhenli Ye Gon

Business insider article re: Zhenli Ye Gon and the Sands Corporation

Last edited by PasswordGotHacked; 11-16-2015 at 09:07 AM. Reason: This was a fair bit beforehand though I think however has been in the headlines for quite some time
Paul Phua and seven others arrested for illegal World Cup bets at Caesars Quote
11-16-2015 , 10:32 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by PasswordGotHacked
I'm guessing you would be talking about the asian born, mexican pharma CEO (allegedly meth manufacturer and distributer) Zhenli Ye Gon

Business insider article re: Zhenli Ye Gon and the Sands Corporation
great read. drug lords gonna drug lord

loved this pic of the cash seizure when officials raided this dudes house.

Paul Phua and seven others arrested for illegal World Cup bets at Caesars Quote
11-16-2015 , 12:49 PM
Is this the same group that Dwan was seen carrying the cash box around the high roller rooms taking bets during summer?
Paul Phua and seven others arrested for illegal World Cup bets at Caesars Quote
11-16-2015 , 02:47 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by marke.
Did you not read the bit where Tom says there were many others at the dinner mentioned, including senior US officials? The article may make it seem like it was an intimate dinner for 2 but perhaps this was not the case.
And to those saying Tom Hall (probably the only one here with genuine first hand knowledge) is ass-covering...A bigger LOL could not be found. Paul Phau has just beaten a case against the FBI but for ****s sake someone get that 2+2 mob under control before shiiit gets real!
The FBI ain't **** compared to NVG!
Paul Phua and seven others arrested for illegal World Cup bets at Caesars Quote
11-16-2015 , 02:54 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by salesbeast
Is this the same group that Dwan was seen carrying the cash box around the high roller rooms taking bets during summer?
details? surely this would be a really fast way to get arrested
Paul Phua and seven others arrested for illegal World Cup bets at Caesars Quote
11-16-2015 , 10:46 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by partywme
details? surely this would be a really fast way to get arrested
I'd prob say that Prop bet's are very rarely Taxed in the US.
Also I am not sure on gambling tax for individuals in the Asian market, and I would guess that the HS guys get a fair deal on market prices etc.
Paul Phua and seven others arrested for illegal World Cup bets at Caesars Quote
11-17-2015 , 12:44 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by ChicagoRy
I understand most of that. What I'm wondering is, if Phua really runs a legal gambling business (as Tom said, though I guess he didn't technically say Phua didn't also do illegal stuff), then why would Caesers even turn him in in the first place, let alone FBI jump on it heavily?

Caesers in particular... these players likely were worth millions of dollars per year in profits to the casino. You wouldn't turn them into the government lightly.
Caesars was already under pressure from FinCEN officials regarding dozens of technical money-laundering violations in connection with its marketing aimed at Asian whales. A lot of this was in the court documents connected to the case, most of which I've read. Reading between the lines, it made it a whole easier for Caesars to be overly cooperative with the feds and the NGC when they started inquiring as to what Phua's group was up to.

I agree with the other commenters that some of the total betting amounts mentioned in the story seem inflated or mistranslated, perhaps by as much as a factor of ten. Phua is incredibly rich but not quite as rich as the story might portray.

One side story the ESPN piece missed is that Phua purchased himself an international ambassadorship, as San Marino's "non-resident" representative in Montenegro. Phua tried to lean on a claim of diplomatic immunity at least once in connection to the US case and likely did as well within the related case in Macau in which he was technically deported, though you won't find that deportation officially described as such.

The Premier League match-fixing is something I wasn't aware of in connection with Phua, but after checking around, yeah, seems like. It puts him in the same low class of character as Vadim Trincher and his Russian-mob boss, Alimzhan "Taiwanchik" Tokhtakhounov, who you might remember from the New York sports-betting case and Molly's Game connections. Taiwanchik is still a fugitive from US justice on charges of fixing that infamous pairs-skating event at the Salt Lake Winter Olympics.

I'm all for sports betting being legal, but fixing or attempting to fix sports events is way over the line, and it's the type of crud that continually needs to be wiped from the scene. It was proper for this case against Phua to be dropped, even though the guy was doing exactly what the authorities claimed. Still, if there really was karma in the world, he'd be sitting in a jail cell somewhere on some other charge for all the **** he's gotten away with. He ain't no hero nor anyone worth idolizing.
Paul Phua and seven others arrested for illegal World Cup bets at Caesars Quote
11-17-2015 , 03:18 AM
It might be notable that Dwan basically went dark after this case happened. I remember he stopped tweeting immediately when it happened. Ever since then he barely ever tweets and when he does it is only about how the government spies on people.

I'm not sure but did the government possibly seize some money of Dwan's during this whole thing?
Paul Phua and seven others arrested for illegal World Cup bets at Caesars Quote
11-17-2015 , 04:18 AM
Thats obv why he hasn't completed the challenge, hasn't released his important information about full tilt or done **** all else a man of his word would in recent future.

Were any winning bets he took (presumably on the previously Phua and Yongs behalf) paid out or diverted/delayed too?

fwiw last tweet I saw from him was something along the lines of "def not legal to complete search under guise of a technician" or something like that straight after the arrest.

Guess I'm basically saying **** durrr really. I could care less if he is locked in a triad basement
Paul Phua and seven others arrested for illegal World Cup bets at Caesars Quote
11-17-2015 , 07:05 AM
1) Taking sports bets from people who want to gamble is not morally wrong and any law attempting to stop it is therefore invalid (the relevance being that if you ever find yourself on a jury hearing such a case you exercise jury nullification - I wouldn't advise you to break such a law personally.)

2) From the legalistic point of view, charges have been dropped so GTFO.

3) As I said before, the real hero of this case is the woman who during the raid put only one hand up and continued gambling with the other hand.

4) To add to the other reasons it lacks credibility, article suggests that money on Pokerstars simply evaporated on Black Friday.
Paul Phua and seven others arrested for illegal World Cup bets at Caesars Quote
11-17-2015 , 11:01 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by SuperSwag
It might be notable that Dwan basically went dark after this case happened. I remember he stopped tweeting immediately when it happened. Ever since then he barely ever tweets and when he does it is only about how the government spies on people.

I'm not sure but did the government possibly seize some money of Dwan's during this whole thing?
I mentioned it above as it was pretty well known that TD was taking sports bets for "some group" and then poof gone,silent.
Paul Phua and seven others arrested for illegal World Cup bets at Caesars Quote
11-17-2015 , 12:06 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by salesbeast
I mentioned it above as it was pretty well known that TD was taking sports bets for "some group" and then poof gone,silent.
No offence but what kinda piddly ass bet could durrrr take that the rest of the world would care about?

No one else cares about the nfl/nhl/basketball or whatever

Kinda sucky that you are pointing the finger at some one for what I guess is a crime.....did you do a deal?
Paul Phua and seven others arrested for illegal World Cup bets at Caesars Quote
11-17-2015 , 04:55 PM
If he is doing it in the open @ WSOP for thousands to see without a care in the world or concern for his image / repercussions its a bit of a joke to chastise someone for speaking about it even if its the beloved Timmy Dean

And lol at sad piddly ass bets I believe it's being inferred he was acting on behalf or in partnership with Phua/Yong in this instance which means maybe not so piddly bets or total bets
Paul Phua and seven others arrested for illegal World Cup bets at Caesars Quote

      
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