Portland man charged in multistate gambling ring

Friday, Sept. 15, 2000 | 8:54 a.m.

Cuong Van Ly, of Portland, and Jim Thi Yip, of Los Angeles, are charged with running the illegal gambling business that took bets on basketball and football games, FBI agents said.

Profits came from charging 10 percent interest on bets placed by those who lost.

The documents are filed in U.S. District Court in Portland. Court dates haven't been set yet.

Arrests in the case are also expected in North Carolina and Washington, said FBI agent Dan Wright, who heads the agency's organized crime and drug squad in Portland.

Over the past ten years, Ly controlled bets taken from at least ten other bookies on college and professional football and basketball games in the Portland area.

Investigators discovered the scheme when an informant tipped them off in September 1999. The FBI then had the informant place bets with Ly and got warrants to search Ly's garbage cans. They also tracked incoming and outgoing phone calls, and soon had enough evidence to obtain a court-ordered wiretap on Ly's phone from Jan. 5 to Feb. 1.

FBI agent Ronnie Walker said activity on the phone during that time was "intense."

"This organization, on a whole, was accepting a ton of bets," Walker said.

On Jan. 9, wiretaps revealed that Yip lost $33,400 to Ly and was told by Ly to send the money as soon as possible. The next day, the U.S. Postal inspectors seized two express mail packages from Yip to Ly.

One contained $17,000 in cash, the other $16,400 in cash, FBI agents said. Another package mailed Jan. 17 contained $13,500 in cash.

Ly's Portland attorney, David Wagner, declined to comment on the case. Yip's Los Angeles attorney, Howard Price, said Yip rarely contacted Ly and that any implication Yip was involved in the gambling ring is a "red herring."

In 1995, Yip was found to be involved in underground casinos in Charlotte, N.C. and cooperated with an FBI investigation there. In January 1997, he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to three years' probation for his involvement in illegal gambling in Kansas City, Mo.

The officials resealed the packages and sent them along so Ly and Yip wouldn't know they were under scrutiny.