Controversial Malaysian businessman and renowned high-roller Paul Phua has been identified as a threat to the integrity of sport by Australian state and federal law enforcement, according to a report on Australian current affairs television program Four Corners.
A Four Corners investigation, which aired last night, revealed that Phua has long been on the radar of local law enforcement agencies due to concerns over his links with illegal bookmaking across Asia.
However, they have remained powerless to take action with Phua having even been flown to Melbourne in a private jet by Crown Casino just three weeks ago.
A 2014 FBI investigation revealed Phua as the man behind online sportsbook Bet-IBC. He had previously been arrested for running an illegal betting operation from a Las Vegas hotel taking millions of dollars of bets on the 2014 World Cup.
All charges against him were dropped when it was ruled that the FBI had obtained its evidence illegally.
Victoria Police Assistant Commissioner Neil Paterson told Four Corners, “Paul Phua is a major player. We know that he has links into some of the unregulated betting markets that operate in the Philippines.
“The FBI operation was able to bring out into the open some of the information that now is known around him and it gives us great concern the sheer volume of money that passes hands in this area, of the organized crime links in that space as well.”
Phua is well known in global poker circles where he is a regular in high stakes tournaments as well as the big cash games hosted by Poker King Club in Macau and Manila over the past few years.
