Brazen plan
A baccarat dealer at Mohegan Sun is facing multiple charges related to allegations that he rigged the game in favor of a particular customer. The favored player won over $124,000.
The situation dates back to last April, when a pit boss noticed that 64-year-old Yu Wen Fu was handling the cards suspiciously. The pit boss contacted security, who viewed the security footage.
Accordingly The dayPolice reports indicate that Fu did not properly wash the deck between his hands when a particular player, 62-year-old Haoen Jiang, was sitting at the table. As those who play live poker probably know, “washing the deck” means randomly placing the cards face down on the table, shuffling them, and then putting them back together. It is a short, additional mixing before the actual mixing takes place.
Instead of doing a clean wash, police said, Fu turned some of the cards right side up, arranged them in a specific order, set them aside and then placed them on top of the rest of the shuffled deck. When Jiang sat down, Fu would pretend to shuffle the entire deck of cards before dealing the predetermined cards to his supposed accomplice.
After reviewing security footage from all the days that Jiang and Fu sat at the same table, police determined that Jiang won sessions that ranged from $3,600 to $29,835. In total, Jiang won $124,260 from March 29 to April 20, 2023.
Players free, dealers in trouble
Jiang did not know the order of the prearranged cards, but Fu did, and signaled to Jiang when a key card (a nine) was to be dealt by placing face cards in front of the nine in the deck. When these face cards came out, Jiang knew that the nine would also be there and was able to bet accordingly.
When police questioned Jiang at Mohegan Sun on April 21 last year, Jiang denied any relationship with Fu, even though he had Fu's phone number on his cell phone. Jiang claimed he had his number because they were discussing concert tickets. Regardless of whether Jiang told the truth or not, he was expelled from the property. He was not charged with any crimes.
Fu, on the other hand, was charged with two counts of first-degree larceny, four counts of second-degree larceny and one count of third-degree larceny. When the deception was discovered, he was suspended from his job and arrested on November 15.
Fu is currently free on $25,000 bail.
