Malaysian businessman’s son to plead guilty in betting scheme

Amid an intense legal battle to get criminal charges dismissed, the son of wealthy Malaysian businessman Paul Phua has agreed to plead guilty in what prosecutors say was an illegal international betting scheme.

Darren Phua, 23, plans to plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge involving the transmission of wagering information and forfeit $125,000 and other electronic equipment seized in a July 9 raid in the operation at the luxury Caesars Palace villas, according to his lawyer and court documents filed by federal prosecutors.

U.S. District Judge Andrew Gordon has set 10 a.m Friday for Phua to enter his change of plea in court. The plea agreement has not been publicly filed.

Defense lawyer Richard Schonfeld told Gordon that Phua is pleading guilty because he is homesick and wants to return to his friends and family in Malaysia. After spending nine months in Las Vegas with his father fighting the case, Phua is “ready to go home,” he said.

Paul Phua, a widely known poker player who also was indicted in the case, is still fighting illegal gambling charges. The FBI alleges he is tied to the powerful Chinese crime syndicate known as the 14K Triad, but his lawyers have strongly denied the claim. His trial is set for April 13 before Gordon.

Six other defendants were indicted with the Phuas in the betting operation prosecutors say accepted millions of dollars in illegal wagers on the World Cup soccer tournament last year. Five defendants from Malaysia and China pleaded guilty in December and each was fined and sentenced to five years of probation on condition they stay out of the United States during that period. The case against a sixth defendant was dismissed.

Darren Phua is likely to receive a similar sentence to the other defendants, most of whom pleaded guilty to misdemeanor accessory after the fact to transmission of wagering information.

The case has attracted national and international attention because of the prominence of the Phuas in the worldwide poker community — professional player Phil Ivey helped put up their bail — and an unusual ruse used by FBI and Nevada gaming agents to access the villas and gather evidence before the July raid.

Last month U.S. Magistrate Judge Peggy Leen found that “false and misleading statements” were made by FBI agents in a sworn affidavit seeking permission to search the Caesars villas. Leen concluded the search warrant affidavit, even without the errors and false statements, was “fatally flawed” and lacked probable cause to support the search.

But federal prosecutors dispute Leen’s findings in court papers, arguing that agents presented plenty of evidence when applying for the search warrant to show probable cause to think the Phuas were engaged in criminal activity.

Prosecutors asked Gordon to reject Leen’s findings and keep the case against the Phuas alive.

In an earlier court hearing, prosecutors said they would have a tough time proving the case without computers, iPads, dozens of cellphones and other electronic equipment seized from the three villas.

While finding fault with the search warrant, Leen did not buy a defense argument that agents conducted an unconstitutional, warrantless search of the villa to bolster the search warrant affidavit.

Phuas’ attorneys, Schonfeld, David Chesnoff and Thomas Goldstein, have asked Gordon to overrule Leen’s finding that agents did not violate the Phua’s constitutional rights by using a ruse to enter their Caesars villa four days before the raid.

Agents cut Internet service to a villa on July 5, gaining entry posing as technicians working to fix the problem. Despite the deception, the Phuas effectively consented to that visit by allowing the agents in, Leen concluded.

Leen, however, chastised the agents for failing to disclose the ruse when getting authorization for the July 9 raid. She said the magistrate judge who approved the search warrant, Nancy Koppe, should have been given that information to help her determine whether agents had demonstrated probable cause for the July 9 search.

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