Man sentenced in Vietnamese scam

Friday, Feb. 4, 2005 | 9:05 a.m.

A Vietnamese man was sentenced to one to five years in prison on Thursday for convincing members of the Las Vegas Vietnamese community to give him money so he could finalize a deal to build a Las Vegas-style casino in Vietnam.

District Judge John McGroarty also ordered Khang Dang to pay $118,000 to two victims he had conned into believing in his scam.

Deputy Attorney General Jason Frierson said Dang, who has two previous theft-related felony convictions, used the money from his con and gambled it away at area casinos.

"He would approach Vietnamese victims and convince them he was an employee of PricewaterhouseCoopers with strong ties to the gaming industry," Frierson said. "He then convinced the victims to give him money so he could finalize a deal to open a Las Vegas-style casino in Vietnam."

One of Dang's victims testified in court Thursday that Dang was a "very intelligent person, who unfortunately used his intelligence to ruin the lives of others." He said Dang should be deported to Vietnam for his crimes, because the prison sentence and restitution wouldn't prevent him from conning other people when he got out of custody.

The victim said others in the Vietnamese community had been swindled by Dang and he expected they would be filing charges in the future.

Frierson would not comment on the prospect of any future charges being filed against Dang.

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