The alleged leader of a sports betting operation in Honolulu admitted Friday that he was the master agent or head bookie for 20 agents or bookies who took bets from gamblers for several Costa Rican-based Internet gambling websites.
Felix Gee Wan Tom, 39, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to transmitting wagering information, filing a false 2011 income tax return, and four counts of money laundering. When he is sentenced in August, he faces up to 20 years in prison for each of the money laundering charges, two years for the placing bets online charge and three years for the income tax return charge.
He also agreed to forfeit to the government cash and property that authorities seized in coordinated raids last May.
That includes more than $1 million in cash from his luxury high-rise condominium in Kakaako where he lived, the condominium unit, $1 million from safe deposit boxes and accounts at three Las Vegas casinos, $862,852 from three bank accounts, plus $104,645 which Tom later surrendered.
Other items Tom agreed to forfeit are the downtown Honolulu condominium from where he ran the gambling operation, a home in Las Vegas, the proceeds of the sale of his previous residence in Kakaako, luxury watches, precious stones and gold and diamond jewelry.
His lawyer, Myles Breiner, said Tom lost everything and went from being a high roller courted by every casino in Las Vegas to working as a bus driver.
Tom said as a master agent he set betting limits, betting lines and payouts.
Federal prosecutor Larry Butrick said most of the 20 agents Tom supervised have agreed to testify against Tom.
One of the agents, car salesman Terrence Ching, pleaded guilty in February to placing bets online and filing a false income tax return. Another agent is a law enforcement officer who Butrick said worked undercover in Tom’s gambling operation for two years.
Tom admitted to U.S. Magistrate Judge Barry Kurren on Friday that one of the ways he laundered the proceeds of his gambling operation was to give a friend cash in return for payroll checks from the friend’s business. He also received W-2 forms with which he filed income tax returns. He admitted that he never worked at the friend’s business.
Another way Tom said he laundered money was to give cash to two friends who own restaurants, who issued checks to a phony cleaning company he set up for work that he or the company didn’t perform. Tom said he helped another person do the same.
To pay for his luxury high-rise condominium, Tom said a Realtor friend instructed him to deposit cashier’s checks with the escrow company and assured him that escrow companies are not subject to the reporting requirements to which banks are subjected. Tom said he listed his brother as owner of the condo.
He also admitted helping the undercover agent do the same in what he later learned was a sting operation. The undercover agent gave Tom money that he distributed to 26 people who made deposits with an escrow company. Butrick said no property was actually purchased.
Tom said all of the people involved in his money laundering knew that the source of his money was his gambling operation.
For the 2011 tax return, Tom reported income of $136,579. He admitted that he failed to report an additional $366,232 he earned from his gambling operation and owes the IRS $118,601.
