Press Release  Quincy Woman Indicted and Arraigned in Connection with Loansharking Operation out of Encore Boston Harbor Casino, Dorchester & Quincy

BOSTON — Attorney General Maura Healey announced that a Quincy woman has been indicted and arraigned in connection with running a criminal loansharking operation out of the Encore Boston Harbor Casino and in Suffolk and Norfolk Counties.

Kimanh Le, 50, of Quincy, was arraigned Monday in Suffolk Superior Court on the charges of Criminal Usury (four counts) after being arrested April 10 at the casino. Following her not guilty plea at the arraignment, Judge Michael Doolin released Le on her own personal recognizance with the condition that she stay away from Encore and any witnesses, surrender her passport and remain in the state. She is scheduled for a pretrial conference in Suffolk Superior Court on June 24.

Le was indicted on the charges by a Statewide Grand Jury on March 31.

Criminal usury (also known as loansharking) is a crime that involves loaning money to individuals at an interest rate that is above a maximum legal rate. Loan sharks operating inside of a casino provide usurious loans, targeting individuals who are problem gamblers, struggling financially or, for some reason, are unwilling to seek credit from legal sources.

The AG’s Office alleges that Le provided usurious loans to gamblers, in the form of cash and/or casino chips. She charged gamblers interest rates of five percent per day or ten percent per week, in violation of the Massachusetts usury laws capping annual interest on loans at 20 percent.

These charges are the result of an investigation by the State Police Gaming Enforcement Unit and Gaming Enforcement Division assigned to the Attorney General’s Office, with assistance from the Massachusetts Gaming Commission and Encore Boston Harbor Casino.

All of these charges are allegations and the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant Attorneys General Emil A. Ata and Canan Yesilcimen, with assistance from Senior Financial Investigator James O’Hara, all of AG Healey’s Gaming Enforcement Division, as well as Digital Evidence Lab Director Christopher Kelly and Digital Evidence Analyst Jobal Thomas, of the AG’s Digital Evidence Lab. The case was investigated by the Massachusetts State Police Gaming Enforcement Unit at Encore Boston Harbor and the Massachusetts State Police assigned to the Gaming Enforcement Division at the Attorney General’s Office with assistance from Massachusetts State Police H Troop, Suffolk State Police Detective Unit, Disabled Persons Protection Commission, the Massachusetts Gaming Commission, the Enforcement and Investigations Bureau of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission, Everett Police Department, Boston Police Department, MBTA Police Department and the Quincy Police Department, and with the full cooperation of Encore Boston Harbor.

AG Healey’s Gaming Enforcement Division has a dedicated group of prosecutors and investigators who enforce the state’s Expanded Gaming Act of 2011 and investigate and prosecute illegal activity such as gaming-related financial crime, organized crime, corruption and money laundering, including the majority of criminal activity occurring at the state’s casinos.

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