Vivian Wang, Wire Fraud and Aggravated Identity Theft, California 2018

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Vivian Wang, 54, of Alpharetta, Georgia, pleaded guilty today to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft related to a nationwide casino and credit card scheme, U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott announced.

Vivian Wang and her co-defendant, Frank Luo, 49, of Las Vegas, Nevada, participated in a scheme to defraud casinos and credit card companies across the country between August 2008 and August 2014. The scheme involved using false identities in the names and Social Security numbers of migrant workers to apply for casino credit called “markers” and to open credit card accounts.

A marker is a cash advance provided by a casino to a patron, and it is often secured by a check from the patron’s bank account. Wang and Luo initially timely repaid several markers at different casinos and several credit cards in order to give the impression of creditworthiness to future casinos and credit card companies.

Wang and Luo recruited “clients” to participate in the scheme to induce the casinos and credit card companies to part with even more money under fraudulent pretenses. The combined fraud led to over $1.1 million in losses to casinos and credit card companies.

The scheme involved coordinating their gambling activity to give the appearance of losing money and thereby encouraging the casinos to issue future markers. In some instances, one schemer would surreptitiously deliver the issued gambling chips to another in order to give the appearance of having spent them.

This case is the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the California Bureau of Gambling Control. Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Yelovich is prosecuting the case.

Co-defendant Luo pleaded guilty and was sentenced to three years in prison. Wang is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Kimberly J. Mueller on May 16, 2018. Wang faces a maximum statutory penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for wire fraud, and a mandatory minimum of two years in prison and up to a $250,000 fine for aggravated identity theft.

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