Probably one of the last people to be suspected as an undercover agent is the cable guy. But this was exactly the tactic used by the FBI in a gambling investigation in Las Vegas that is now the subject of a federal lawsuit.
The agents were looking into a potentially illegal gambling operation allegedly involving Malaysian nationals staying in a luxury villa at Caesars Palace. But they lacked enough evidence to obtain a search warrant, so the FBI agents hatched a plan to somehow get inside the hotel suite in hopes of uncovering the evidence they needed.
Initially, the operation involved the agents posing as technicians from the hotel and showing up with laptops and explaining that they were there to make sure the internet connection was working properly. But when the hotel guests said they didn’t need any help and everything was working fine, the FBI decided to “break” the internet connection in the suite and then show up dressed as workers from the cable company to fix it.
Once inside, the agents began looking for evidence of an illegal sports betting ring – wandering around the suite and secretly taking photos – with the goal of obtaining enough evidence to get a search warrant after the fact.
One of the high-rollers staying inside the hotel suite had been expelled from Macau for running an illegal sports-booking operation, which made the Nevada Gaming Commission and FBI suspicious. Even though the assistant U.S. attorney had advised against going forward with the cable guy scheme, the FBI proceeded anyway.
A lawyer for the subjects of the FBI investigation - eight of whom are facing charges of transmission of wagering information, operating an illegal gambling business, and aiding and abetting - says his clients deny any wrongdoing. He has brought a lawsuit against the U.S. Justice Department, alleging that the FBI search was illegal and that the government tried to cover it up.
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