5 NY residents charged with stealing $1.1 million from Atlantic City, NJ casinos

Five New Yorkers used fake bank checks to steal more than $1.1 million from Atlantic City casinos, according to charges announced Thursday.

Acting Attorney General Andrew Bruck said that the five defendants, two women and two men, are each charged with second-degree conspiracy and various counts of second-degree theft by deception and attempted theft by deception.

As of Thursday afternoon, four of the defendants were being sought on arrest warrants. One was detained in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

• Xiuhuan Zhang, 65, of Flushing
• Qingtao Zhang, 53, of Flushing (detained)
• Shuai Liu, 30, of College Point
• Peng Cai, 33, of Brooklyn
• Sen Ge, 29, of Flushing

According to the Attorney General's Office, Xiuhuan Zhang and Qingtao Zhang presented the fraudulent checks at five casinos in the resort city. The three men allegedly assisted them at times, along with other people who remain under investigation.

At each casino — Caesars, Borgata, Ocean, Hard Rock, and Golden Nugget — fake checks worth $150,000 and $134,000 were handed over in order to obtain gaming chips, officials said.

The alleged scheme did not work every time, officials said. For example, in two instances, Hard Rock denied a $150,000 check from Xiuhuan Zhang.

Contact reporter Dino Flammia at dino.flammia@townsquaremedia.com.