LAS VEGAS, May 30 ― A Malaysian poker player charged last year with running an illegal World-Cup gambling ring from his luxury suite at Caesars Palace may be allowed to leave the US after two court rulings that have sunk the case against him.

Justice Department lawyers yesterday dropped their opposition to Wei Seng “Paul” Phua’s request to return home while the case remains pending. US District Judge Andrew Gordon in Las Vegas three days ago threw out the evidence collected in July from a US$25,000-a-night (RM91,452) villa stacked with banks of computers and monitors and televisions tuned into World Cup games.

“The government recognizes that this is a significant change in circumstances,” according to the filing by prosecutors, who said it may be weeks before they decide whether to appeal the judge’s rulings.

Phua, 50, a businessman with interests in luxury hotels and mining and a competitor in international poker tournaments, told the court May 22 he wants to return to Malaysia because his mother is suffering from advanced pancreatic cancer. He said he would return to the US rather than let a trial proceed in his absence because he intends to clear his name.

“Mr. Phua is not looking to flee; he seeks to prove his innocence and to restore his reputation,” according to his filing. “Indeed, Mr. Phua has litigated this case even though refusing to plead has separated him from his life and his family for an extended period of time.”

In a response to the government’s filing, Phua retracted his earlier proposal to leave his US$48-million private jet behind as collateral. As it may take more than a year for the government to appeal Gordon’s rulings and bring the case to trial, leaving the plane in Nevada would cause “significant inconvenience and economic harm,” he said.

The judge last month faulted the FBI for using a ruse in which agents cut off Internet access to Phua’s villa and posed as repairmen to look for evidence of wrongdoing. Gordon threw out the evidence collected during that search and this week ruled that evidence from later raids of two adjacent villas wouldn’t be allowed either.

“The evidence shows that the unconstitutional searches of Phua’s villa, and what was found there, influenced the government’s decision to seek a warrant to search the other villas,” Gordon said in a written decision. “I do not find the government would have searched the other villas had it not first searched Phua’s.”

Phua’s son Darren and a group of other men and one woman, who occupied the two other villas and were arrested with him, have pleaded guilty to misdemeanour charges and returned to Asia, leaving Phua as the remaining defendant.

The government in its filing Friday questioned whether Phua could return if he needed to stand trial because he doesn’t have a valid visa. The gambler argues that prosecutors’ suggestion that he might not be able to attend his own trial is “disingenuous” because his visa would be entirely in the government’s control.

Gordon hasn’t ruled on Phua’s request to leave the country.

Natalie Collins, a spokeswoman for the US attorney’s office in Las Vegas, declined yesterday to comment on the case.

The case is US v. Phua, 14-cr-00249, U.S. District Court, District of Nevada (Las Vegas). ― Bloomberg