The WSOP's world's most powerful bookie was snared last year -- and walked a free man
THE UNKNOWN KING of international gambling uses a lively step. He dances out of similar situations and tiptoes through U.S. District Courtroom3D in Las Vegas.
It is August 5, 2014. Paul Phua approaches Cam Ferenbach, Magistrate Judge Cam Ferenbach’s walnut-paneled courtroom. He is wearing a charcoal-colored suit and shirt with no tie. A pair of glasses lends him an urgent air of fragility. The right hand of Phua's attorney comforts him as he pleads guilty.
Phua whispers, "Not guilty your honor," Phua replies. However, anyone who has ever sat at a World Series of Poker(WSOP) table with Phua would recognize his quiet confidence.
Is it possible to fall for deceit in this city of deception? Paul Phua, a modest figure, is the largest global bookmaker. Phua, a long-range business jet pilot, has traveled the globe for many years. The tail number N888XS is a reference to the Chinese belief that the lucky number 8 represents luck and the excesses that can accompany gambling wins. Phua is said to have billions of dollars in his pockets and has established a gaming empire. She has visited Hong Kong, Las Vegas Las Vegas, London and Melbourne as well as any other places in the region where there are casinos and nosebleed poker games.
Now Phua has been taken to U.S. Federal Court, where his status as gambling kingpin will only be hurt. With guns drawn, the FBI raided Phua’s Caesars Palace villa on July 9, 2014. This occurred during the 2014 WSOP. According to the Department of Justice, Phua and seven others were accused of running an illegal sports betting operation, called a "wireroom," which was used in the parlance. The illegal wagers involved nearly $400 million of illegal bets on last year’s World Cup.
Each charge, which included operating an illegal casino and sending wagering information, carried a maximum of seven years in prison. However, as serious as the U.S. gaming laws were, Phua's case wasn't just about taking soccer chits. It is an indication of the U.S. government’s growing concern about how and where money flows into Las Vegas, as well as the U.S. financial sector.
Since Phua's arrest in July 2014, ESPN has conducted more than 80 interviews in eight countries and examined thousands of pages of court filings, which tell the story behind the Caesars raid, involving many high-profile players: the world's biggest poker stars, Wall Street investors, Chinese criminal figures, an All-America basketball player-turned-financial-crimes crusader and the former head of Interpol, each looped into a mystifying, multibillion-dollar shell game.
Phua (pronounced "Pwa") is the unassuming Malaysian 51-year old who is also the principal owner and operator of IBCBet, world's largest online sportsbook. Phua refused to be interviewed. She was the reason Tom Dwan, poker savant, learned Mandarin, and that Phil Ivey, poker star, was frequenting the StarWorld casino in Macau, a Chinese gambling enclave. According to court filings by the Department of Justice, Phua was a senior member of a Hong Kong crime group called the 14K trinity (Phua’s legal representatives refute this allegation); testimony under subpoena also suggested that Caesars was suspicious of funds that he had transferred to its properties.
The following is Phua’s rise from Borneo number runner to the biggest poker bookie and then his fall. He was finally caught by the FBI, but he left the FBI a free man.
PAUL PHUA - WHO ARE YOU?
Phil Ivey purchased a substantial portion of the $2.5 million to free Phua and another defendant when the U.S. government placed Phua’s $48 million Gulfstream V plane under arrest. Ivey's generosity sparked speculation: Who was Paul Phua? These details were provided by associates, investigators, gambling executives and others.
Wei Seng Phua (or Paul) was born in Miri, Malaysia, on the island Borneo. As an adult, he travelled across the South China Sea from Miri to Kuala Lumpur (the capital of Malaysia). Phua initially worked in construction but found more lucrative work. "When he arrived in Kuala Lumpur, Phua met small-time Chinese gamblers at the Chinese coffee shops." This is according to an investigator from Malaysia's Division of the Royal Malaysian Police Crime Investigation Department (D7 squad), which is charged with fighting gambling, vice and organized criminality. Phua learned to set up lines on soccer games, and became a bookmaker. According to the investigator, Phua's popularity grew by word-of-mouth.
Phua was in the midst of a revolution in the sport betting industry, in the late 1990s. Bookmaking has always been a local industry, with bookmakers focusing on clients they could personally collect. Internet-deployed tech allowed bookmakers the ability to reach out across international boundaries and market their services to a global clientele. A few lucky bookies could emerge from the mass of Asian-based sportsbooks and create their own names. Capital investment would be required in IT for transformation. Phua came across a plan that would allow him to access the capital necessary for this type of innovation.
Two matches from the English Premier League were suspended by soccer officials in 1997 -- West Ham against. After the stadium lights had gone out, officials decided to suspend two English Premier League matches -- West Ham vs. Arsenal. Since each match entered the second period, Asian bookmaking regulations required that these bets be made based on the score at the time. The Floodlights Affair was the name given to the games by international bookmakers. It was the first instance of Asian-backed match fixing on English soil.
Two Malaysian nationals, and a Hong Kong citizen were found guilty on conspiracy charges in relation to match-fixing. Phua was not charged or connected to the crime during the proceedings. However, multiple sources close by him claim a different story.
According to a Phua associate, "Paul Phua paid for it." "If you know the outcome to a Premier League game, you can make an enormous amount of cash." Paul Phua went from being one the best eight bookies in Malaysia, to becoming a very large businessman.
Phua raised new capital to fund the IT development that made his online sportsbook (now called IBCBet) available online. This technology was at the forefront in industry technology. It eventually became Asia's most important line setter. As with others in the industry he created an international network consisting of trusted agents and underagents. This helped him to generate business in dozens more countries, according to a long-time agent and former executive at IBCBet.
Phua partnered alongside Seng Chen "Richard", a Kuala Lumpur gambler who, according to the Hong Kong police, was convicted for fixing horses. Yong had connections throughout Asia. As Phua sought to expand IBCBet's operations, Yong helped him move the operation to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. IBCBet was eventually registered in the Philippines as one of few Asian jurisdictions that still allows online betting. IBCBet is estimated to handle $60 billion worth of betting each year, according to trade estimates. With a 1 % take, the book earns $600 millions annually. A source at IBCBet Manila claims that Phua holds 70% of the enterprise.
An executive at Macau's casino who has known Phua for many years says, "He is a helluva risk taker." "He was bankrupt twice in his professional career. The first was in Malaysia. The second time occurred in Hong Kong, Macau, just a little over 10 years after the first. According to rumours, he may have been involved in the notorious English Premier League lights switch-off case. He saved his face that way. He's a guy that can pull off such feats.
While Phua’s book was expanding globally, he was still close to his home. Malaysia's D7 Police Squad tracked the illegal betting activities to a Miri Golf Club condominium during the Euro 2004 soccer tournaments. This was Phua's hometown. Officers approached the condo at the Miri Golf Club in Phua's hometown in the early morning of July 5. The Euro final had just ended in Portugal and Greece, so police entered the condo and cut the satellite TV cable. D7 agents attacked a man who tried to check the cable from the condo.
Police discovered a wire-room with 22 men, all from Vietnam and Hong Kong -- who were using computers to bank. Paul Phua was another discovery.
Authorities closed down the illegal operation and fined Phua approximately $8,000, according to his arresting officer. He was then driven to the airport to board a flight to Vietnam. Phua wasn't affected by the bust. However, it was a sign that international law enforcement was interested in the game Phua was playing. 8888 yet anotherovic movie poker deck review
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