3 Arrested in Loan Sharking Crackdown

Three men with alleged ties to organized Asian crime in Westminster were charged Tuesday with approaching tapped-out gamblers at casinos, offering loans at exorbitant rates and threatening violence if they failed to repay, authorities said.

The men offered on-the-spot loans to losers at the Bicycle Club in Bell Gardens and the Commerce Club in Commerce, police and FBI agents alleged Tuesday.

The loans, some amounting to $40,000, carried interest of up to 10% per week. Borrowers were threatened with injury or damage to their businesses if they failed to pay on time, authorities alleged.

“They charge an extortionist rate, which preys on the victims and is very hard to pay back,” said Stephen P. Steinhauser, assistant special agent in charge of the FBI’s Santa Ana bureau.

Duong “Benny” Trung Lam, 36, of Los Angeles, David Quan Tran, 40, of Bell Gardens and Chanh Trong Hoang, 31, of Huntington Beach were charged in federal court in Santa Ana. They face 20 years in prison if found guilty.

Authorities arrested the three last weekend because of concerns that they may have been poised to carry out threats, authorities said.

“We had information that one of the victims was beaten up on Friday, and that point we went and rounded up the ones we had cases on,” Westminster Police Chief James Cook said.

The men are suspected of targeting Chinese and Vietnamese gamblers playing Pan 9 and other Asian card games.

“These loan sharks frequent the clubs and target those Asian players who are down on their luck,” Cook said.

Although only four victims have come forward, authorities suspect they number in the hundreds, and that hundreds of thousands of dollars were loaned, Cook said.

One of the victims told investigators that he borrowed $20,000 and was told his girlfriend would be killed if he didn’t make the payments, the chief said.

Tran, who goes by the nickname “The Executor,” collected the debts for Lam, Cook said. Hoang is suspected of issuing the loans and threatening borrowers.

The arrests, which occurred Friday and Saturday at restaurants in Little Saigon, were jointly announced in Westminster by the FBI, Westminster police and Orange County district attorney’s office.

Those offices formed the Asian Organized Crime Team six months ago to investigate crimes in Little Saigon. Four months ago, their work led to an investigation of loan sharking at the clubs, authorities said.

“Many, many of these victims, we believe several hundred, are in the Orange County area, in the Little Saigon area,” Cook said.

This is the first time law enforcement has infiltrated organized Asian crime in Westminster, Cook said.

Investigators said the casinos were given limited information about the investigations and that they cooperated.

Frederick Wyle, a trustee for U.S. Interest, which oversees the Bicycle Club, said, “We are in full support of an investigation. . . . It’s standard practice that we cooperate with the FBI, the police or anybody else.”

At the Commerce Club, Vice President Andy Schneiderman said, “Loan sharking is not something that is conducive with our business interests. It’s certainly not good for our customers. We hope and wish to eradicate it. Any such allegations would bar any person from entering our premises.”

Other victims are asked to contact Jenny Truong of the Westminster Police Department at (714) 898-3315, Ext. 591.

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Times correspondent Jason Kandel contributed to this report.