The Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office (AGO) announced Friday that a Middlesex County jury found Encore Boston Harbor Casino baccarat dealer Jianming Li of Delaware and baccarat player Jun Na Zhang of New York guilty on two counts each of cheating and swindling more than $1,000 and one count each of larceny over $1,200 by single scheme.
According to the indictments, the cheating scheme occurred on two different 2019 dates, one in late October and one in early November. The scheme involved Li fanning and exposing cards to himself in the high-limit section of the Encore Boston Harbor Casino, memorizing the sequence of cards, and then communicating that sequence to Zhang. Zhang’s illegal winnings on the two nights were approximately $15,000.
The conviction appears to follow the 2021 indictment of three individuals in a baccarat cheating scheme, which was reported at the time by MassLive. In the 2021 indictment, a third individual was named involved, but that individual is missing from the 2024 conviction.
At sentencing, the Court imposed a 364-day committed house of correction sentence, suspended for two years for Li and a 364-day committed housing of correction split sentence (six months to serve in the house of correction), suspended for two years for Zhang.
The investigation was conducted by the Massachusetts State Police’s Gaming Enforcement Unit at Encore Boston Harbor Casino, with assistance from the Massachusetts Gaming Commission, the AGO’s Gaming Enforcement Division, and the Massachusetts State Police. The Encore Boston Harbor Casino was also cooperative in the investigation. The Gaming Enforcement Division is charged with enforcing the Expanded Gaming Act of 2011 and investigates and prosecutes illegal activity such as gaming-related financial crime, organized crime, corruption, and money laundering.
