The illegal sports betting trial of high-stakes poker player Wei Seng ‘Paul’ Phua (pictured) has been delayed, apparently because the federal judge handling the case needs more time to determine if the FBI’s questionable evidence-gathering tactics violated the US Constitution’s fourth amendment. On Christmas Day, the Associated Press reported that the case’s Jan. 12 trial date was removed from the court schedule and a new date with destiny scheduled for Feb. 9.
Phua and his son Darren are the only two defendants still fighting the illegal gambling charges filed against them this summer. A total of eight individuals were arrested in July on suspicion of running an illegal online sportsbook out of three luxury villas at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Five of the defendants reached plea deals with the feds earlier this month while charges against a sixth defendant were dropped.
US Magistrate Judge Peggy Leen is currently considering the defense team’s argument that state and federal agents violated the fourth amendment in obtaining the evidence needed to convince a judge to issue arrest warrants. Civil libertarians have expressed outrage that the feds tampered with the villas’ internet connection, then sent in undercover agents equipped with body cameras when the Phuas called Caesars to fix the problem. On Dec. 18, Leen said only that she would issue her decision on the evidence’s admissibility ‘soon.’
In hearings earlier this month, Leen heard testimony from Michael Kung, one of the undercover agents who participated in the warrantless raid. Kung admitted that he failed to mention the ruse in his arrest reports and acknowledged that he wasn’t aware of any previous raids that employed such tactics.
Caesars’ special investigations director Paul Urban testified that he’d declined to participate in the ruse due to “privacy concerns.” Assistant US Attorney Kimberly Frayn voiced similar concerns prior to the raid, warning agents that their scheme raised ‘consent issues.’ The agents involved ultimately chose to ignore Frayn’s advice.
The feds are reportedly looking to pry $13m in forfeiture from the Phuas; a sum equal to what the feds believe the illegal sportsbook earned taking wagers on the 2014 FIFA World Cup before the whip came down. In order to make bail, the elder Phua put up his $48m Gulfstream jet as collateral. Call us cynics, but somehow we suspect that bird is the real prize here.
