Kansas man enters guilty plea in illegal online gambling case

Hoang Pham, a 49-year-old resident of Kansas City, Missouri entered a guilty plea on charges of illegal online sports betting and money laundering when he appeared before US District Judge Fernando Gaitan this week.

Pham admitted to running the operation from at least 2008 until it was broken up by federal enforcement agencies early in 2012 (see previous report).

Prosecutors claim he used Costa Rica-based websites to conduct the illegal enterprise, and that the gross revenue exceeded $2,000 per day on multiple days. Evidence obtained during the course of the investigation indicated that, in approximately a one-year period alone – from January 1, 2011, to February 9, 2012 – bets totaling $3,788,635 were placed.

Pham and his partners conspired to use a number of bank accounts and businesses to conduct financial transactions designed to conceal the nature, location, source, ownership and control of the proceeds of the illegal gambling operation and to engage in financial transactions that involved the proceeds of the illegal gambling business, it was alleged.

In a separate civil proceeding, Pham has forfeited to the government $56,437, which represents the proceeds of his illegal conduct and was seized by law enforcement officers during the execution of a search warrant.

A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a pre-sentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.