Ex-Casino Official Found Guilty of Loan-Sharking

A federal court jury on Friday found the former Asian games manager at the Bicycle Club casino guilty of conspiracy, loan-sharking, and extortion for loaning money to gamblers at exorbitant interest rates, then having an associate use force to collect the debts.

The conviction of Hollman Cheung on nine criminal counts was hailed by prosecutors from the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles, who described the matter as a significant Asian organized crime case.

“Hopefully, it sends a message that this type of conduct will not be tolerated in California card casinos,” said Assistant U.S. Atty. Marc R. Greenberg.

“We’re very disappointed,” said Cheung’s defense attorney, Charles R. English, who said he plans an appeal. “We believed then and now that Hollman was innocent.”

English complained about the government’s reliance on several unindicted co-conspirators who had been facing life in prison and received reduced sentences for their cooperation with prosecutors.

The case had an ironic twist for the U.S. government, which seized the Bicycle Club in April, 1990, after federal prosecutors proved the vast casino alongside the Long Beach Freeway was built in part with $12 million in laundered drug money from Florida. The government still owns a controlling interest in the club, but last month entered into a $38-million sales agreement with a Santa Monica investment group.

The government charged that Cheung and several associates “would loan money at usurious rates to people gambling at the Bicycle Club in Bell Gardens,” then use extortionate means to collect on the loans.

The conspiracy count alleged that Cheung and others engaged in loan-sharking and extortion until February, 1993, nearly three years after the government acquired its interest in the club. During the 12-day trial, victims testified that Cheung charged up to 10% interest every three days.

Cheung also faces federal conspiracy and racketeering charges in New York related to gold bullion businesses that allegedly looted the investment accounts of customers.

U.S. District Judge David V. Kenyon set Cheung’s sentencing for Nov. 28. The maximum sentence is 160 years in prison and $2 million in fines. Under federal sentencing guidelines, Greenberg said, the best that Cheung can hope for is eight years in federal prison.

Cheung, 42, of Hacienda Heights, ran lucrative pai gow and super pan nine poker games at the Bicycle Club until he was arrested last March after being indicted.

Greenberg, who tried the case with Assistant U.S. Atty. Stephen Larson, said the guilty verdict marks the end of “a significant Asian organized crime case” involving someone who was organizing loan sharks in the Asian community.

“He made victims out of people who could be victimized--people who are addicted to gambling, people who are unfamiliar with American culture and our legal system,” Greenberg said. “People in the Asian community who didn’t have the trust and willingness to go to authorities. He knew that and he preyed upon them.”

Witnesses testified that co-defendant Tony Wong, a former associate of Cheung’s at the Bicycle Club, fired shots into the homes of two loan shark victims and used force or intimidation to collect or attempt to collect on loans owed to Cheung.

Wong, who pleaded guilty to state charges in 1991, fled to Hong Kong before being indicted on federal counts. He remains a fugitive.