A Las Vegas woman has been sentenced to probation after it was found that she married 14 different men to fund her gambling addiction.
Jiaying Chen, 34, was convicted on multiple counts of bigamy, fraud, and obtaining money under false pretenses on Tuesday following a guilty plea in July, according to The Las Vegas Journal.
District Judge Crystal Eller sentenced Chen to probation with mandatory attendance at Gamblers Anonymous meetings, counseling for gambling addiction, and a $280,000 restitution fee as well as electronic monitoring, The Las Vegas Journal reported.
‘That having been said, I also do think that it would be appropriate for her to finish her one year in Clark County Detention Center so that she understands what looking at eight to 20 [years] in prison really looks like, Eller said, News 3 reported.
Chen appeared in court Tuesday, as did Raymond Tam, one of fourteen marriage fraud victims, who gave his victim impact testimony, the outlet reported.
‘Mentally, every day, I’m distressed and I’m not able to sleep,’ Tam said in court, according to The Last Vegas Journal.
Chen had fourteen husbands whom she would extort money from to fund her gambling habits.
Using a fake ID under the name ‘Vicky Liang’ for seven years, Chen convinced her husbands to send her more than $100,000 collectively by claiming she desperately needed the funds to help sick relatives in China, prosecutors said at the time of her guilty plea.
Convicted bigamous fraudster Jiaying Chen appeared in court in Las Vegas on Tuesday where she received her probation sentencing
Jiaying Chen admitted to struggling with a gambling addiction and said she wants to get better after she was found guilty of marriage fraud which she used to fund her casino trips
Jiaying Chen, 34, managed to obtain 14 marriage certificates in Clark County since March 2019 as part of an elaborate moneymaking scheme
Chen lost more than $300,000 at the luxury Wynn casino on the Las Vegas strip in the past year alone, according to prosecutors. The Wynn is pictured towards the front of the strip
LVMPD said several of her current and previous spouses claimed Chen had convinced them to get married after only several months of knowing each other.
Chen used the money she got from her spouses to gamble at the luxury Wynn casino on the Las Vegas Strip, where she lost more than $300,000 in the last year alone, according to police.
‘It appears the money she has obtained goes to gambling and not relatives overseas,’ police said, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
‘Chen would provide different stories, some involving sick family members in China and would start asking for money,’ police said, according to the LV Journal.
‘Once Chen received the money, she would break all communication with them.’
Chen told detectives she ‘could make as much as $20,000 from one marriage’ and that she ‘only conducts the fake marriages in Las Vegas because it is so easy to get married.’
Chen’s attorney Thomas Wells said Chen is remorseful and admitted to struggling with gambling addiction, the LV Journal reported.
