Chinese immigrant De Rong Shang is facing a dismal future for scamming Las Vegas casinos out of over $1 million. Getting into the specifics, he could be sentenced to 360 years in prison and forced to pay a $4.5 million fine. Obviously this is a pretty crazy sentence, so it's worth looking at Shang's cheating scam a little closer.

Bad Credit

Along with his confidant, Yuli Eaton, Shang recruited people to apply for credit at Las Vegas casinos. In most cases, they were approved because the credit lines were backed with bank accounts that Shang funded. Once they received chips from casinos, these players would pretend to lose in baccarat games - but secretly give their chips to the conspirators instead, who cashed them in. This way, the casinos wouldn't question the players when their chips were all gone.

Quick Exit

The next part of this scam involved the "losing" players exiting either Nevada or the United States altogether. Shang and Eaton normally paid the players $300 for every $10,000 in casino credit they tricked casinos out of. When these Las Vegas establishments went to collect the credit they extended, they discovered that the bank accounts were emptied. 

Exposed

Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Duncan discussed the scam in detail by saying, "Shang deceived the casinos into believing that the recruits had sufficient funds to pay back the casinos. In doing so, the defendant caused monetary losses to the casinos while enriching himself with proceeds from the fraudulent scheme."

Casinos that suffered monetary losses included Red Rock, Green Valley Ranch and Palace Station. Even the Bank of America was deceived during this scam. What's interesting is that the FBI thinks Shang may have even run more cons at Caesars Palace and Paris Las Vegas; both of these matters are still being investigated.