WASHINGTON, Aug. 8 /EMWNews/ -- Tien Duc Vu, 50, pleaded

guilty today in San Diego to conspiring to participate in a racketeering

enterprise, the "Tran Organization," in a scheme to cheat casinos across

the country out of millions of dollars, Acting Assistant Attorney General

for the Criminal Division Matthew Friedrich, U.S. Attorney for the Southern

District of California Karen P. Hewitt and U.S. Attorney for the Western

District of Washington Jeffrey C. Sullivan announced today. Vu also pleaded

guilty to conspiring to commit theft from the Nooksack River Casino, an

Indian tribal gaming establishment near Deming, Wash.



    A three-count indictment was returned in San Diego on May 22, 2007, and

unsealed on May 24, 2007, charging Vu and 13 others each with one count of

conspiracy to participate in the affairs of a racketeering enterprise; one

count of conspiracy to commit several offenses against the U.S., including

conspiracy to steal money and other property from Indian tribal casinos;

and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. As part of his plea

agreement, Vu agreed to have a separate indictment against him transferred

to San Diego for plea purposes. The separate indictment, unsealed on May

24, 2007, in the Western District of Washington, charged Vu and four others

for alleged violations related to card-cheating activity at the Nooksack

River Casino.



    The San Diego indictment also charged five separate individuals each

with one count of conspiracy to commit several offenses against the U.S.,

including conspiracy to steal money and other property from Indian tribal

casinos; and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.



    In his plea agreement, Vu admitted that on numerous occasions between

approximately early 2005 and late 2005, he participated in gambling cheats

together with other alleged members of the Tran Organization at casinos.

These casinos include Nooksack River Casino in Deming, Wash.; Beau Rivage

Casino in Biloxi, Miss.; Foxwoods Resort Casino in Ledyard, Conn.; and

L'Auberge du Lac Hotel & Casino in Lake Charles, La.



    Vu also admitted in his plea agreement that he and his co-conspirators

unlawfully obtained up to $2.5 million during card cheats. In addition, Vu

agreed to the forfeiture of $53,500, in the form of a personal money

judgment. He also acknowledged that the restitution that he may be ordered

to pay by the court at sentencing is not limited by the forfeiture amount.



    According to the indictment, the defendants and others executed a

"false shuffle" cheating scheme at some of the listed casinos during

blackjack and mini-baccarat games. The indictment alleges that members of

the criminal organization bribed casino card dealers and supervisors to

perform false shuffles during card games, thereby creating "slugs" of

un-shuffled cards. The indictment also alleges that after tracking the

order of cards dealt in a card game, a member of the organization would

signal to the card dealer to perform a "false shuffle," and members of the

group would then bet on the known order of cards when the slug appeared on

the table. By doing so, members of the conspiracy repeatedly won thousands

of dollars during card games - totaling up to $868,000 on one occasion.



    Furthermore, the indictment alleges that the members of the

organization used sophisticated mechanisms for tracking the order of cards

during games, including hidden transmitter devices and specially created

software that would predict the order in which cards would reappear during

mini-baccarat and blackjack games.



    An indictment is merely an allegation and is not evidence of guilt. A

defendant is entitled to a fair trial in which it will be the government's

burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.



    Vu's sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 8, 2008 in San Diego, before U.S.

District Judge John A. Houston, in U.S. District Court for the Southern

District of California. At sentencing, Vu faces a maximum sentence of 20

years in prison on the racketeering conspiracy charge and a maximum of five

years in prison on the conspiracy charge relating to theft from an Indian

tribal gaming establishment.



    Vu is the twelfth defendant to plead guilty in the San Diego

indictment. Phuong Quoc Truong, Anh Phuong Tran, Martin Lee Aronson, Liem

Thanh Lam, George Michael Lee, Son Hong Johnson, Barry Wellford, Willy

Tran, Tuan Mong Le, Duc Cong Nguyen and Han Truong Nguyen have all pleaded

guilty to charges against them related to this scheme. Han Truong Nguyen

was sentenced on May 12, 2008, to 27 months in prison and ordered to pay

$1,896,659 in restitution, payable to designated victims in the case.

Nguyen was also ordered to serve three years of supervised release. The

remaining defendants who pleaded guilty are awaiting sentencing.



    The case is being investigated by the FBI's San Diego Field Office; the

Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation; the San Diego Sheriff's

Department; and the California Department of Justice's Bureau of Gambling

Control. The investigation has received assistance from federal, state,

tribal and foreign authorities, including: the Ontario Provincial Police;

the National Indian Gaming Commission; the U.S. Attorney's Office for the

Western District of Washington; FBI Resident Agencies in Gulfport, Miss.,

Tacoma, Wash., and Toledo, Ohio; the Indiana State Police; the Rumsey

Rancheria Tribal Gaming Agency; the Sycuan Gaming Commission; the Barona

Gaming Commission; the Mississippi Gaming Commission; the Washington State

Gambling Commission; and others.



    The prosecution of the case is led by the Criminal Division's Organized

Crime and Racketeering Section (OCRS). Department of Justice Trial

Attorneys Joseph K. Wheatley, Robert S. Tully and Gavin A. Corn are

prosecuting the indictment in San Diego. Assistant U.S. Attorney J. Tate

London of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Washington

is prosecuting the case in Seattle relating to alleged cheating at the

Nooksack River Casino.