High Stakes Poker Pros nabbed in World Cup Betting Ring

The FBI recently busted a high stakes World Cup betting ring that Chinese and Malaysian businessmen ran out of Caesars Palace villas. Included among the eight arrests were Wei Seng (Paul) Phua and Sen Chen (Richard Yong), both prominent high stakes poker players.

Authorities allege that the syndicate rented three Caesars villas and took millions of dollars worth of bets on the World Cup. Casino technicians began to get suspicious when the tenants requested an “unusually large amount large amount of electronics equipment and technical .” They then tipped off authorities, who went undercover as electricians and computer experts to get an inside look at the betting operation.

Those involved with the operation were eventually kicked out of Caesars, and they went to other Strip resorts in the aftermath. The FBI then tracked down each member and arrested them.

After Phua was arrested, along with his son, Darren Wei Kit Phua, he told authorities that he’s worth between $300 and $400 million. U.S. Judge Bill Hoffman required Paul Phua to put up $2 million in bail and offer his $48 million private jet as collateral. The latter was mainly required in the bail because Phua is considered a flight risk. He and his son will now stay on home detention in the third-party custody of a Las Vegas-based friend.

As the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports, Phua is “known by law enforcement to be a high-ranking member of the 14K Triad.” Based out of Hong Kong, the 14K Triad is infamous for drug trafficking, illegal gambling, prostitution and loan sharking.

World Series of Poker press releases describe Phua in a little more favorable manner, claiming that he’s “a big league investment banker from China who is one of the driving forces behind the nosebleed cash games in Macau.” So far, he’s managed to cash in one WSOP event, the WSOP Asia-Pacific $50k High Roller, where he took third place and earned US$340,122. In all, he’s cashed in four poker tournaments for a total of $2,899,443.

As for Yong, he’s had an even more illustrious poker career, netting $4,496,352 in live tourneys. His biggest cash came at the 2012 WSOP Big One for One Drop, where he took eighth place and earned $1,237,333. Yong has also earned large tournament scores in APT, EPT and WSOP Europe events.