Money-laundering suspects look to deal

Kim Smith

Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2000 | 11:28 a.m.

A Las Vegas couple indicted on money-laundering charges have entered a plea agreement guaranteeing them probation, but the federal judge presiding over the case may not accept the deal.

Sue Ying Wong, 40, and Raymond Yin, 61, were offered the plea agreement after defense attorneys Richard Wright, Karen Winckler and Charles Kelly argued their clients had been tricked into unlawful acts by Metro Police.

Wong and Yin were indicted in March 1998 on multiple money laundering counts following a two-year Metro police investigation.

According to court documents, Wong and Yin, who were married following the indictment, gave undercover officers posing as drug dealers $514,000 in $100 bills in exchange for smaller denominations in the winter of 1997-98.

Wong met the undercover officers while working as the Asian marketing director for Bally's hotel-casino. According to court documents, she had told undercover officers she knew of several people who were interested in laundering money, but then agreed to do it herself.

Wong later introduced Yin, a retired radiologist, to the officers and together they laundered $454,00 of the $514,000, court documents show. In addition, the pair offered to sell the officers a two-acre parcel of land in Spring Valley for small denomination currency -- bringing the total amount of money laundered to about $1.2 million.

According to court documents, Yin and Wong received commissions of between 5 percent and 8 percent.

Federal law enforcement officers got involved in the case because of concerns that Wong was using casino money to launder drug proceeds, but it was later learned she and Yin were using their own money.

On Tuesday U.S. District Judge Howard McKibben learned of a plea agreement in which the U.S. attorney's office agreed to recommend a sentencing break for Wong if Yin also pleaded guilty.

Under federal sentencing guidelines, that would guarantee Yin and Wong probation, a fact that disturbed McKibben.

The judge said he was "disinclined" to accept the plea agreement because he would not have any discretion when sentencing the pair.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Johnson told McKibben that "while we're confident the government would be victorious, the entrapment defense presented a serious enough issue that we decided to settle" the case through a plea agreement.

Wright said the pair are being punished sufficiently without prison time because the plea agreement calls for them to forfeit about $627,000 in cash, the Spring Valley property and a 1996 Lexus, Wright said. Yin will lose everything he has worked for all of his life, he said.

McKibben scheduled another hearing on the matter for Feb. 14.