San Gabriel man convicted of $1 million fraud targeting Las Vegas casinos

LAS VEGAS — A San Gabriel man faces up to 360 years in prison and $4.5 million in fines for defrauding La Vegas casinos out of more than $1 million, authorities said.
De Rong Shang, also known as Jason Shang, 50, was convicted Tuesday in federal court of 1 count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and 17 counts of mail fraud, U.S. Attorney’s officials said in a written statement. He was ordered to return to court for sentencing July 16.
Shang, along with co-defendant Yuli Eaton, 47, of Redlands, who pleaded guilty before trial, used recruits to obtain casino credit marker in the scam, officials said.
Shang would give the recruits money to open bank accounts, which they would in turn use to obtain credit from casinos, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The recruits then played baccarat, using a technique called “rolling the chips” to make it look as if they were losing money while, in reality, they were actually just hiding them and transferring them to co-conspirators.
“In actuality, they gave the chips to Shang, who cashed them in,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office statement. “The recruits then left Nevada or the country, and were paid a small percentage of the total amount of credit under their names, generally $300 per $10,000 line of credit.”
When the casinos tried to collect the money they were owed from the recruits’ bank accounts, officials said, it was discovered the accounts had been either drained or closed.
Shang was due back in court for sentencing July 16.
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