LOS ANGELES, Dec 10 — Five people accused of operating an illegal World Cup gambling business out of luxury villas at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas have agreed to a plea deal, leaving the alleged ringleader, high-stakes poker player Wei Seng “Paul” Phua, and his son as the sole defendants in the case.

Phua, his son and six individuals from Malaysia, China and Hong Kong were arrested and charged on July 9 when FBI agents busted into the US$25,000-a-night (RM868,77.50) villas as the occupants were watching the World Cup semifinal between and the Netherlands and Argentina. Phua and his son have denied the charges.

Four men and one woman have agreed to plead to one count each of illegally transmitting wagering information and will forfeit about US$1 million, according to documents filed in federal court in Las Vegas. Three are expected in court today. The remaining two are scheduled to appear tomorrow.

Hui Tang, the general manager of a football club in Shenzhen, China, is among the five who are pleading. Under the plea agreement, Tang admits that he and the others operated an illegal sports gambling business, according to the filings. He has agreed to pay a US$250,000 fine as well as US$250,000 in forfeiture.

“Tang is a Chinese businessman with a wife and three children,” according to his lawyer’s request to be sentenced at the time of his plea hearing. “Tang desires to plead guilty and leave the United States so that he can return to China and take care of his family.”

Eighth person

The US will drop charges against an eighth person, according to court filings.

Phua, a Malaysian citizen and a regular at million-dollar poker games, and the others were arrested after technicians at Caesars Palace discovered a villa occupied by his group was set up as an illegal gambling hub, with banks of computers and monitors and three televisions switched to World Cup games. Phua had been arrested in Macau a month earlier for allegedly operating an illegal sports gambling business there.

Phua and his group were using SBOBet and IBCBet sports— betting websites, neither of which is licensed to operate in Nevada, to monitor odds and place bets, prosecutors said. At the time of his arrest in July, Darren Phua told the Federal Bureau of Investigation that his father owned IBCBet.

Two biggest

The websites are the two biggest online sports-betting commission businesses in the world, according to Chris Eaton, former head of security at FIFA, football’s governing body. Eaton, now a director at the Doha-based International Centre for Sport Security, estimates that each company turns over about US$2 billion a week.

Phua and his son denied they were running an illegal gambling operation in Las Vegas and asked a judge to toss evidence collected by FBI agents masquerading as Internet— support technicians. The agents cut the villas’ network connection to gain entry and look around without a search warrant. Agents later obtained a warrant based in part on what they observed during initial entries, according to court documents.

Seng Chen “Richard” Yong, a 57-year-old Malaysian businessman who organizes trips to bring high-rollers to the VIP rooms of casinos in Macau and elsewhere, is among those who have agreed to plead guilty. Yong planned the group’s trip to Caesars Palace, where he and Phua negotiated a US$60 million credit, according to papers filed in court.

In a separate filing today, Yong’s lawyer asked that he be given five years’ probation, citing health issues.

The case is US v. Wei, 14-cr-00249, US District Court, District of Nevada (Las Vegas). — Bloomberg