This is a story of how a Korean immigrant scammed herself half a million bucks off Harrah's casino and all she had to do was ask. And if that weren't enough, she's trying to use Celine Dion's husband as bait in a rape/blackmail scam out of the Imperial Palace Casino to help her raise the half million bucks to pay the casino back and keep her ass out of jail. Sounds like a movie script, yet it's actually playing live in Las Vegas this week.

The story starts in 1999. Yun Kyung Kwan Sung, a Korean immigrant whose husband was here legally on a work visa brought his wife over for a temporary stay. He was an "ordained" Minister of the Full Gospel World Church (something he got through the mail from the back of the Rolling Stones Magazine Korean edition, I'll bet), somewhere in southern California. (hard to believe). She received her green card thanks to his job, and although he was a successful money raiser, she managed to spend all her time in the casinos gambling whatever money he had managed to defrock the flock of. She was a big- time loser and, like many losers in this town, eventually she was stuck. Stuck to the casinos for small markers that they would let her take out due to her long play and the fact that her checks cleared when she needed to pay off a marker and start a new one. She did win at times and would take the money and set up accounts at several smaller casinos.

Even if the accounts were only $200- $500, the fact was that she was taking and paying off her markers made her a preferred customer. She knew that even if she made small payments to the casinos, the fact that she attempted to pay the markers led the casinos to offer her larger and larger amounts on her credit limits, much like Visa and MasterCard do. When they realize you like to spend money, they just offer you a little more and a little more until you're stuck over your head. And she did just that. She maxed her plastic out in no time. MasterCard's the best: they charge you a 12% vig on your money (It'll cost you $12 for every $100 you borrow from the "firm" in those casino credit card machines.) And the casino you take the money from shows up on your billing just like Sam's Dry Cleaners, and trust me, in a background check of your credit, it shows you taking $50 at the local porn shop and another $300 at the Crazy Horse topless club, as well as the $5,000 out of Caesars Palaces' cage last night as you took it $500 at a time, TEN FUCKING TIMES YOU IDIOT! (You better hope and pray you paid that hooker in cash in case your little wifey checks the bills at the end of the month, pal.) But soon her $200- $500 markers weren't enough for a night of gambling. She needed to seek out larger casinos to get larger markers.

She walked into Harrah's and asked for a marker account. She deposited $1,000 in her account and gave them her references at the other casino cages. As she played at Harrah's, they called to check her references. Her credit stood up and the cage let the casino host know she was good for a lot more than $1,000. A few nights later she asked for an extension of $5,000. The host obliged her and $5,000 in checks was brought out for her. She sat at the Baccarat tables for six hours and managed to make $10,000, paid off the $5,000 and used the other $5,000 to set up an even larger line of credit. They appreciated her putting $5 grand in the cage and let her play (and drink) to her heart's content. She had a good run and managed to get her credit line up to $50,000. Although she paid off her $50,000 credit line when she managed to lose the entire amount in one sitting then win it back with a few good plays on the Baccarat tables and with that payoff, her credit limit was almost limitless.

But now she was way over the edge. She started to drink as she lost; this was her biggest mistake. She took one marker after another and within three months managed to win and lose $3 million dollars at the tables (A figure quoted from the Review Journal.) But she was smart, so she would steadily increase her marker limit by depositing her winnings back into the casino cage and that got her limit eventually raised to $500,000. She had turned herself into a whale, and I don't mean from all the free buffets. But she had a bad losing streak and when the smoke had cleared, Harrah's was hung with $500,000 in bad paper (markers) and they wanted their money and let her know they were ready to press charges. She was under the impression by what she'd always read that casino markers weren't recoverable debts as long as you were out of the court's jurisdiction and planned to stick it to them by returning to Korea until the smoke had cleared.

This was true twenty years ago, but has been changed to reflect the growing casino industry outside the Nevada borders, since casinos were being built in almost every state and country, whether by white people or Indians, they wanted their money, and just like writing a bad check in another state, the funds were recoverable no matter where you ran. There was a story just a few years ago when a wealthy Japanese banker lost $10 million to Caesar's Palace and ran back to Japan to blow the debt off, but Caesar's went to Japan after him and recovered all their dough. (It didn't mention anything about going to court for it either.) She was desperate, she knew they could put her in jail so she hatched a scheme in March and what she tried next was something pretty fuckin' strange.

Being a woman has its advantages and disadvantages, but one unfortunate disadvantage for men is the trump card all women hold in their purses (or should I say, in their pants?) It's called the rape card and she used it to try and help her pay off the half million. She would find someone else to pay the debt and at the Imperial Palace she saw her mark.

Celine Dion was performing in town and somehow her husband and manager Rene Angelil ended up one night at the Imperial Palace. Yun Kyong Kwan Sung accused Angelil of raping her in the I.P. in March of 2000. What happened that night is unclear and will come out in the trial, if it ever gets that far. But believe me, if you saw this woman, you couldn't be married to Celine Dion and bring yourself to rape this broad. This would be like marrying Julia Roberts and raping Yoko Ono, (now there's a picture for ya.) None of the details were divulged in the news, just the accusation that he raped her at the I.P. Then a year later she shows up in court in shackles, under arrest for defrauding Harrahs' out of half a million bucks.

When the sums of the markers were read aloud in court, the other inmates sitting in the gallery with her just shook their heads in disbelief at the enormous amounts she was able to get by just asking: $25,000, $36,000, and one night she really went off with a single marker of $87,000 which she dutifully lost in a few hours at Harrah's tables. And she's here on a green card as an immigrant from Korea! Harrahs' lawyers were so embarrassed that when her lawyer asked the judge to grant her an O.R. release (own recognizance) and the judge denied it based on the large amounts and the fact that she was a danger to flee back to Korea, the Harrahs' lawyer also requested the O.R. release, based on the fact that she promised to pay back the $500,000 if they would only give her time. She would make ten $50,000 payments every month. (Are you shittin' me, you let a Korean immigrant - a low-life gambling addict - out of jail when she "promises" to pay you $50 grand A MONTH? And how's she supposed to raise that kind of money? Gamble and win it at your own casino? She and her hubby going to baptize $50,000 worth of Full Gospels a month to pay off the bill? Where the hell do the lawyers for Harrah's think this broad is going to raise $50 G's a month?)

But the lawyers all agreed and the judge went along with the request with the acknowledgement that she would make these $50,000 payments or be placed back in jail and the fraud charges would stand. AND CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS?? Three months later she was placed back in custody having not paid Harrahs' a dime. I'm dying here, someone kill me. I can't believe these guys are this stupid. God I'd love to get these suits in a poker game at my house, I'd never have to work another day in my life.

It reminded me of what happened back in '81.. Back then I was a poker player. I stuck mostly to the games at the Stardust, Harrahs' and the Mint downtown, but one of the best local poker rooms was at Sam's Town on Boulder Highway. Still one of the best casinos in town, I highly recommend it and it still has a great poker room in the same room they've always had, despite all the changes to the casino. I had an account there and could cash small checks. The games were small, mostly $1-$3 Hold-'Em, and on a good night I'd take home $50- $80. That's where I'd draw the line since my rent back then was $75 a week so I could cover it in one night and the comped food at all the poker rooms, since I was playing 10-15 hours a day, would take care of my food bill, thanks to the generosity of the casinos. The drinks were free also, so they would cover my liquor bill, more or less, too. Not a bad life, but there were some days when I'd lose (quit laughing) and I'd draw the line at $40. Whenever I'd lose the $40, I'd quit for the day.

One day, I had a good pot and a great hand. With a 9-J suited, the flop came 8-10-7 of different suits so I had the made straight and, with no possible flushes around, I couldn't lose. I was check-raising and re-check raising and re-re-re-check raising. The next card was a 2 so I was looking better and better. The last card was another 2. Now for sure I had the best fucking hand. A weak little voice from the other side of the fat dealer said "I call and I raise." I could barely hear the words. I leaned forward and could make out a tuft of grey hair, a little farther forward and I could see a wrinkled old face. Now a little farther forward and I could make out my nemesis, an 80 year old grandma, hands shaking, fingers bent from arthritis. I leaned back in my chair, faced with $60 worth of raises but I didn't have the money. So I turned to the guy next to me.

"Shit, I'm broke and I got Aunt Bee from Mayberry raising into me, loan me $60 will ya?"

He slid three $25 checks into my hand under the table. I threw them into the muck and said: "I call ya lady." She leaned forward and said "HUH? What'd he say?" The dealer yelled, "HE CALLED YA". I stood up and yelled "WHATCHA GOT LADY!!?" (Sure, I'll show some respect for her, just as soon as I lock up her sixty bucks!) I threw my 9-J on the layout "STRAIGHT LADY, WHATCHA GOT?"

The bitch throws over an 8-2 YES, I SAID A FUCKING EIGHT-DEUCE! SHE CALLS INTO A GODDAMN $150 POT WITH A PAIR OF 8'S!!*&%## She's got a goddamn full house, I can't believe it.

"Lady, you raised with a pair of 8's after two raises in front of you?" She smiled and said to the dealer, "WHAT'D HE SAY?"

I threw down what was left of my double Jack Daniels, smashed my cigarette into the ashtray, thus avoiding putting it out on her wrinkled face, went to the cage and cashed a check for $60 to pay the guy back. I paid him, got another double Jack for the road and vowed never to walk in there again.

Two days later I got a call from a lady at the cage "Ken, this is Nancy from Sam's Town, seems your $60 check bounced and we'd like our money." I was broke and didn't have the money to pay them. "Nancy, I'll have to pay you next week, I…" and I was cut off "Ken, we'll either get the money by Monday morning or we'll turn it over to our collectors."

Well these days, when they say collectors they mean a hired collection agency that sends notices in the mail and makes harassing phone calls to threaten your credit. But back then, when they said collectors you just said, "Yes m'am, I'll be there by Monday morning with the $60." And believe me I was there at 9 a.m. with the money. Back then markers weren't negotiable and, since they weren't, they weren't subject to collection laws. You couldn't get someone thrown in the can for hanging bad paper on you; you just had to find your own way of collecting. And they always got their dough. So there I was, a white kid, stuck $60 bucks to a local casino and they want to send the "collectors" out after me, and this Korean immigrant gets in for half a million bucks and she'll probably hop a plane back to motherland and never be seen again…unless Mister Dion really did do a little shtupping at the I.P. and pays the bill for her.

But if I'm a jury member and you tell me he's managing his wife who's getting a $300 million dollar showroom made just for her, she just bought a $12 million dollar "working" home (she has a few others), she's making $10 million a year (it might even be more than that when it's done) and you're gonna convince me that this guy's raping Korean immigrants in the Imperial Palace?

So I guess the moral of the story is, if you're an immigrant, if you can't speak a word of English or figure out how to work a fork (come on, in Asia they use pitchforks in the field to pick up hay and shovels to pick up dirt, yet they still don't get the idea of forks and spoons, they still use two sticks to pick up noodles and rice… HELLO!!) you got a decent shot at the casinos. Show them your green card, learn how to pronounce two words: "MARKER, PLEASE." Write the number $500,000 on a piece of paper that says Bank Of America on the top, sign some hokey name like Dong Hung Lo on the bottom, date it for four or five years in the future and then say, "I PAY" and point at the date. When they bring out the half million in chips just fucking smile will ya, show them that you're happy with them and you like them, say something nice like "GOD BLESS AMERICA" (they really eat that shit up) then tip the goddamn cocktail waitresses and the dealers. But if you're just an ordinary American, you want to write a little check for sixty bucks? You got no shot, like we used to say in the neighborhood: FORGEDDABOUDIT!!

--Ken Pearlman