A Fountain Valley man has agreed to plead guilty to three federal charges related to his underground casinos, including bribing a police officer with more than $100,000, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Thursday.
Niem Ngoc Ha, who also goes by the name Dung Body, will admit to operating an illegal gambling business, bribery and conspiracy, the DOJ said in a news release.
He faces up to 20 years in federal prison.
Ha, 47, operated four casinos in Santa Ana in coordination with three others who are expected to go on trial in May, prosecutors said.
The video gambling machines in the casinos produced “thousands of dollars in profits each day,” and $128,000 of those proceeds were directed to former SAPD Officer Steven Lopez, prosecutors said.
The payments to Lopez, made over a six-month period, were made “in an effort to protect [Ha’s] illicit casinos from law enforcement intervention,” the release said.
Lopez pleaded guilty to accepting bribes in 2020, and he is scheduled to be sentenced in June 2023.
In addition to the bribery, Ha also admitted that violence took place at his casinos, including one case where Ha directed a colleague to “physically assault a casino patron who had started a fight,” prosecutors said.
In another instance, a casino worker was shot in the neck, the DOJ added.