Vietnamese Seductress Faces Prison for Beguiling Blackjack Dealers
Blackjack Seductress

The American legal system has finally caught up with Van Thu Tran, a femme fatale who finessed millions of dollars out of the Casino Rama, Resorts East Chicago Casino, and 27 other blackjack casinos around North America.

Van Thu Tran was not just the prettiest face among 44 cheaters in the Tran Organization arrested within the United States and Canada, she was also one of the founders. Moreover, her role was to coax or corrupt male blackjack card game dealers at diverse casinos selected by the organization.

The Tran organization was a family endeavor which spanned three generations, suckering casinos on both sides of the U.S.-Canadian border, utilizing advanced scouts to monitor casino security before the highly trained members used sophisticated methods, including a false shuffle, to bamboozle the casinos. At the organization’s peak, the group would collect an average $50,000 for every 10 minutes of “wagering” at a blackjack or baccarat table. Once, they took $868,000 in just 90 minutes at a Chicago-area casino.

In 2003, the Tran Organization flimflammed Casino Rama alone for over $2 million. Other noteworthy hits include the Harrah’s Casino in Lake Charles, Monte Carlo Resort in Las Vegas, and Trump Casino 29 in California. The FBI and casino officials disagree whether the total take was just $7 million or closer to $20 million.

To date, forty-two other men have pled guilty for participating in the international conspiracy, also charged with stealing casino funds and membership in an unlawful enterprise, and already some former blackjack dealers have been convicted for corruption while some blackjack cheaters have been sentenced to 6 years in federal prison. Known members of the Tran Organization have been banned from Canadian casinos, and (perhaps not surprisingly), none have been spotted at the casinos since their confederates were arrested.

Last month, this co-founder of the international blackjack cheating syndicate pled guilty, confessing that the Tran Organization was created by Phuong Quoc Truong (her common law husband), Tai Khiem Tran (her brother), and herself specifically to cheat blackjack casinos transversing North America. Now she remains in San Diego awaiting sentencing in court on April 11th. Not only does she have reason to anticipate a harsh prison sentence, but she is likely to pay a quarter of a million dollar fine, be required to forfeit numerous assets, and make restitution to all her dupes.