Two Korean Foxwoods Baccarat Hold-Out Device Cheats Plead Guilty

The two Koreans who belonged to an international baccarat cheat team and who boldly used an old-fashioned poker hold-out cheating device now face a possible 20-year federal prison sentence after pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and grand theft from a Native American casino.

Wookyung Kim, 34, and Young Su Gy, 60, beat Foxwoods for some $700,000 before that casino's inept surveillance department finally caught on. It was later discovered that the pair belonged to a baccarat cheat team that had victimized Atlantic City casinos for amounts believed to be close to half a million bucks.

The Koreans used the hold-out device to hide cards they removed from the baccarat game and then switch them back into the game when they needed to improve their hands. The scam took place between September and November 2010 on the Macau-style midi-baccarat game.

My take: These guys will probably go down with the same tune that the Trans did for their Tran Organization baccarat scam, meaning sentences in the five-to-seven-year range. But what is this crap with the wire fraud charge? Seems like the Feds charge everyone with wire fraud regardless of what the crime was.