A United States federal judge has stated that evidence in the Paul Phua sports betting case should be thrown out of court because the the way the FBI obtained a search warrant was ”fatally flawed”.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports that federal judge Peggy Leen recommended throwing out evidence in the high-stakes sports betting case because the search warrant which the FBI used to bust Phua and others didn’t have probable cause.
Leen has also stated that the FBI agents gave ”false and misleading” statements when trying to obtain the warrant.
As we have previously reported, Phua and his son Darren, recent Aussie Millions $100k winner Richard Yong and five other Chinese and Malaysian businessmen were arrested last July on the charges of running an illegal World Cup betting ring.
The betting operation was ran from the Caesars Palace in Las Vegas and the FBI cut off the internet from the luxury villas on purpose, then posed as IT technicians to gain access to the villas, where they recorded enough footage with hidden cameras to earn them a search warrant.
David Chesnoff said the following according to the Review-Journal.
”I’m pleased that her honor recognized that law enforcement must not be reckless nor omit vital information when seeking a warrant.”
Prosecutors have 14 days to respond to Leen’s statements, the other five defendants in the trial, including Richard Yong have already pled guilty and one more defendant had his case dropped by the court.
