Did an FBI sting operation in Vegas cross the line?

Sports betting is big business in Nevada. Last year, $3.6 billion was wagered in the state.

That could be why FBI agents went to such great lengths to bust up what they say was an illegal outfit operating in one of Vegas' largest casinos.

But now, the eight men accused of running an illegal gambling operation in Las Vegas are challenging the evidence.

They say federal agents broke the law obtaining it, claiming they violated the Fourth Amendment, CBS News' Jericka Duncan reports.

A video from an FBI sting in July, obtained by "CBS This Morning," shows federal agents posing as Internet repairmen, but they were actually there to collect evidence on an alleged illegal gambling operation.

"I'll take a look at the router," an agent said in the video. "That's probably where the problem is."

"So is the Wi-Fi down too?" another agent asked.

The agents pretend to fix the problem while several men watch the World Cup, their laptops allegedly open to an illegal Asian gambling website.

"I got the URL," an agent said.

The only problem -- the sting itself might not have been legal.

According to a motion filed in federal court Tuesday, attorneys for the defendants say it was the FBI disconnected the Internet in order to gain access.

"It'd be the same thing as like, turning off the power or turning off the water, and then saying, 'oh you invited me in,'" former U.S. federal prosecutor Mark Rasch said. "So the key here is consent."

But federal prosecutors said the illegal activity happened in three suites at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.

The alleged ringleader, Paul Phua, was recently thrown out of Macao, China's gambling mecca, for a similar crime, raising suspicions in Nevada.

Laurie Levenson, a professor of criminal law at Loyola University, warned FBI operations like this could be a slippery slope.

"The best defense is a good offense," she said. "And the FBI tactics have given the defendants the opportunity to go on the offensive, and now you find that it's the FBI who's in the hot seat."

A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Nevada was unable to comment because the case is still pending.

And the Department of Justice has until Nov. 7 to file its response.

In the meantime, all eight defendants pleaded not guilty to both counts.

Will be interesting to see what happens here. But you know in 95% of these cases, the Feds win.
also a Big Money Grab

BetAllSports is correct that the Feds rarely ever lose. Of course, most of their cases aren't against defendants with means who can afford top notch defense attorneys.

Just reading that very brief article and not knowing 99% of the details, I think the Feds did go to far. But it the Feds already had a search warrant or wire tap or anything else already signed off on, that might change my line of thinking. Need more details.

Yes

What was the alleged crime?

They were probably just agents for a chinese book, but they said that they were running a book

I remember a story on here about some Chinese running a book out of a Las Vegas Casino during the World Cup that got busted. I'm thinking this is the same story just new details.

Bourn said:

I remember a story on here about some Chinese running a book out of a Las Vegas Casino during the World Cup that got busted. I'm thinking this is the same story just new details.

Click to expand...

same

If your dumb enough to run an operation like that out of a LV Casino hotel room then you deserve to get busted. And you let some people in? Lol

LAS VEGAS (Associated Press) — A federal judge in Nevada heard defense attorneys allege Thursday that the FBI improperly enlisted Caesars Palace officials to obtain a crucial

LAS VEGAS (Associated Press) — A federal judge in Nevada heard defense attorneys allege Thursday that the FBI improperly enlisted Caesars Palace officials to obtain a crucial search warrant before arresting eight men now charged with setting up an international Internet gambling hub at the Las Vegas Strip resort.

The arguments in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas didn't lead to the public airing of evidence that FBI agents with lapel cameras tricked their way inside a luxury villa by getting a contractor to shut off Internet access to the suite and then impersonating repair technicians. The Associated Press previously obtained and viewed that video.

Instead, Caesars attorneys sought to quash a subpoena requiring the surrender of email and business records that defense attorneys say will show the FBI violated the defendants' Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable search and seizure.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Peggy Leen heard about 40 minutes of arguments before declaring she wouldn't quash the subpoena.

The lawyers met separately and reached a deal a short time later that made no more hearings necessary.

Attorney Vincent Savarese, representing Caesars, said they agreed on a "narrowed scope" of disclosures.
David Chesnoff, attorney for lead defendant Wei Seng Phua, said that by receiving the documents, "we'll be able to pursue the truth."

The lawyers didn't disclose details.

Defense attorney Thomas Goldstein told the judge they think emails will show Caesars officials were "centrally involved" with federal investigators and prosecutors trying to find a way to obtain enough probable cause to get a search warrant against Wei Seng Phua.

"It's not the case that Caesars is innocently involved and just a third party," Goldstein said. "We need records that show their participation and what happened in the searches ... (and) if staff was directly involved in the process."

Monica Pinciak, a lawyer representing Caesars, said the casino company had nothing to hide. She said it already turned over business records relating to money transfers, and branded the subpoena a "fishing expedition" for emails and materials that could be used to hurt the company.

But when Leen asked if the business records included emails, Pinciak responded no.
"They want anything and everything," Pinciak protested, "to fish for unknown evidence to use in this case or their threatened civil suit against Caesars."

Under U.S. law, a person generally must consent to give up constitutional protections against unreasonable search unless authorities obtain a warrant. Evidence collected improperly is not supposed to be used at trial.

Prosecutors deny the tactics used to get a warrant in the Phua case were improper, but U.S. Attorney Daniel Bogden said the government would only comment about specific allegations in court.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Kimberly Frayn listened to Thursday's subpoena fight, but didn't take part.

Phua, his son Darren Wai Kit Phua, and defendants Seng Chen Yong, Wai Kin Yong, Hui Tang, Yan Zhang, Yung Keung Fan and Herman Chun Sang Yeung were arrested in three exclusive villas at Caesars on July 13. Each has pleaded not guilty to charges of transmission of wagering information, operating an illegal gambling business and aiding and abetting.

If convicted, each could face up to seven years in federal prison on the unlawful transmission and illegal gambling business counts, and fines of up to $500,000.

Phua also faces charges of running an illegal sports gambling business in the Chinese gambling enclave of Macau. He was arrested there June 18 and freed on bail. He flew a few days later to Las Vegas, where federal authorities impounded his private jet pending resolution of the U.S. case.

The allegation that the FBI used a ruse to get inside the hotel rooms came to light last month, at the same time questions were being raised about tactics used by federal agents in a drug case involving a New York woman and a bomb-threat case in Seattle.

Submitted by Associated Press on Thu, 11/06/2014 - 21:37

Enfuego said:

The alleged ringleader, Paul Phua, was recently thrown out of Macao, China's gambling mecca, for a similar crime, raising suspicions in Nevada.

Click to expand...

You might wonder why Vegas would not have this guy's picture and description on a list. If he is truly a criminal, why would he be allowed on the property?

The answer is because he has MONEY. You can be the worst sort of criminal and Vegas will welcome you in. IF...... they believe they can get some of your money. Laundered money...... hell yea.... the more the merrier. It is still money.... and Vegas wants it all!

But if you are booking bets or counting cards….. or anything that is perceived as possibly costing the casino any money…… then by all means…. Your ass is gone.

Out of the million places they could've used to set up this bookmaking operation, they chose a casino villa. And then they asked the casino to set it up in a manner that made it obvious that they would be bookmaking (internet, phones, cable set ups).

This has to be the dumbest crime syndicate ever.

Paul Phua Sportsbeting Case Update: Battle Continues Over Warrant Legitimacy

Defendants in the Las Vegas-based sports betting case centered on prominent Malaysian gambler (Wai Seng) Paul Phua have continued this week with increased battles over the legitimacy and grounds for granting search warrants which served as the basis of a July raid of three customer-occupied luxury villas at Caesars Palace.

The raids and subsequent arrests of Paul Phua, his son (Wai Kit) Darren Phua and several other prominent Asian gamblers have sent ripples through the online poker and gambling worlds. The Phuas, father and son both, were frequent participants in celebrated high-stakes poker games in Macau, which attracted some of the world’s wealthiest and famous poker players.

Whether or not the search tactics employed by federal and state investigators and Caesars security to obtain information on the villas’ occupants remains a central point of the legal battle, with federal agents admitting to — while defending the use of — a complicated ruse in which they intentionally switched off internet service to the guest villas occupied by the defendants and other members of their parties. The agents secretly taped the interior of the villas and used that information to obtain warrants to officially search the premises; though the FBI has defended the ruse, the case has drawn both international attention and the interest of constitutional scholars for its presumptive breach of established Fourth Amendment protections.

Among the latest in a flurry of defense activities seeking to have evidence thrown out is a filing by the attorneys for the Phuas. On Tuesday, high-powered attorneys Thomas C. Goldstein, David Z. Chesnoff and Richard A. Schonfeld filed over 90 new pages of documents in their combined efforts to suppress alleged evidence obtained during the search. Attorneys for the other defendants in the case are continuing along similar paths.

The latest filing made by the Phuas’ collective counsel begins as follows:



The introductory statement continues by protesting the ongoing efforts of the prosecutors to link the occupants of two of the villas — 8881 and 8882, including the one where the Phuas stayed — to Villa 8888, which actually housed an equipment set-up akin to that alleged by investigators as they sought search warrants. Villas 8881 and 8882, it subsequently turned out, had internet set-ups much less advanced than that in Villa 8888, contrary to agents’ statements. The extent to which the FBI agents may have intentionally deceived the warrant-issuing judge by misstating the nature of their evidence and observations remains one of the hotly-disputed issues in the case.

The extensive filing by the Phuas’ attorneys includes six primary points of dispute, asserting that:

• The warrant application rests on false statements and baseless assertions regarding the occupants’ supposed criminal history;
• The warrant application contains significant false statements and material omissions designed to mislead the magistrate into falsely believing that the intrusions into Villas 8881 and 8882 were consensual;
• The warrant application purposefully misleads the magistrate into believing that the residents of Villas 8881 and 8882 were acting in concert with the residents of Villa 8888;
• The warrant application’s assertion that the occupants of Villas 8881 and 8882 requested the installation of substantial electronic equipment is false;
• The warrant application’s assertions regarding supposed financial transfers between the villas’ occupants are false;
• In the absence of the misrepresentations and omissions in the application, the search warrant would not have been issued.

As has been true with previous defense filings, the latest documents attempt to decrease the linkage between the Phuas (who rented Villa 8882), high-rolling associates Richard Yong and his son Wai Kin (who rented Villa 8881), and the meat of the alleged illegal operation and the activities of the other defendants, which took place in Villa 8888. Among the facts released subsequent to the filing of the initial complaint was that 19 different electronic keys had been issued to various guests and visitors of Villa 8888 during the time the villa was allegedly being used as a boiler-room gambling operation.

Meanwhile, the Phuas’ prominent attorneys have alleged that the government’s attorneys and investigators keep changing their story as the case develops, in some cases manufacturing new lies while discarding old ones. This passage from the latest filing is typical:

… Meanwhile, the Government inexcusably offers new lies to replace the old ones. And frequently, the Government attempts to use information that was not in the warrant affidavit — and indeed, was not even available at that time — in order to shore up its prior misrepresentations. Regrettably, but unsurprisingly in this remarkable case, it mischaracterizes a great deal of that evidence, too.

The government’s post-hoc attempts to rehabilitate the warrant application only highlight how flawed the original document is, and how committed the Government is to misleading the Court. …
​

Whoa, hang on,…..