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For the past 21 years, The Filipino Express has provided the Filipino American community the best news, arts and entertainment coverage from around the United States and the Philippines.
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This website includes selected articles from this week's edition of the Filipino Express. Not all the stories published in the printed version appear on this site.
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To tell us what you think about Filipino Express Online or to comment on the stories published here, E-mail us at Filexpress@aol.com
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CHICAGO – Prominent Filipino American businessman and philanthropist Renato Mendoza Medina is going to appeal his 15-month jail sentence, according to a source close to Mr. Medina who refused to be quoted by name.
The success of the appeal, however, appears in doubt because in the plea agreement Mr. Medina signed, it says, “I agree to give up my right to appeal my conviction, the judgment, and orders of the Court. … except for a claim that my constitutional right to the effective assistance of counsel was violated.”
Medina, 62, a native of Arayat, Pampanga in the Philippines and owner of Lucky Chances Casino in Colma, California, pleaded guilty to three counts of tax evasion beforem the United States District Court in San Francisco. Judge Jeffrey S. White ordered Medina last Nov. 3 to start serving his 15-month sentence at noon on Jan. 29, 2009 at Federal Corrections Institute in Taft, California.Medina was also ordered to be placed under supervised release for three years, to perform 200 hours of community service and to pay restitution in the amount of $973,841.00, $50,000.00 in fine and $300.00 in assessment.
Medina was accused of under declaring the income of his casino by more than $1.1-M and re-channeling the income to dummy business expenses that found their way among others to his personal expenses, including payment to furniture of his home in Atherton, California worth more than $245,161.00 and a new Mercedes Benz worth $54,525.55.
During the sentencing, Judge White was quoted as telling Mr. Medina, “you are blessed you have this business while other people are suffering and yet you committed these abuses.”
For his part, Medina was said to have been contrite, saying, “I’m sorry. I embarrassed myself and my family before my friends and other people.”
Phone calls placed by this reporter to Medina’s lawyer, Cristina Arguedas, and Mr. Medina, himself, were not returned. Medina and his niece, Phyllis Reyes Cuison and his nephew, Rawlin Cundangan Reyes, were initially indicted with 10 counts of felony, including conspiracy to defraud the United States, tax evasion, making and subscribing False Tax Returns.
Medina would have been facing a maximum of 13 years in prison and more than $1.1-M in additional fines. In a plea agreement filed last Oct. 24, Mr. Medina pleaded guilty to three counts of tax evasion for evading payment of taxes for the years 1999, 2000 and 2001 and afterwards Federal prosecutors, including Assistant U.S. Attorney Cynthia Stier, dropped the rest of the felony charges against Medina.
Under the plea, Medina would have been eligible to a maximum prison sentence of five years as he caused Lucky Chances to pay Suburban House $245,161 for furniture and redecorating services for his personal house. He also caused Lucky Chances to pay $884,740 in fees for alleged services provided by Casino Players Promotions and caused these payments in 1999 and 2000 to be deducted as ordinary and necessary business expenses of Lucky Chances, which is false.
The charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States against his niece, Phyllis R. Cuison, and his nephew, Rawlin C. Reyes, were also dismissed last Oct. 30.
It was reported that by pleading guilty to tax evasion, Mr. Medina will no longer be allowed to own Lucky Chances casino under state law. He is now in the process of turning over 100 percent shares of stocks of Lucky Chances to his sons Rommel and Ruel Medina.
Earlier, two former Colma mayors, Philip Lum and Ronald Maldonado, were accused of accepting free airfares to the Philippines from Medina while the two were considering regulations that benefited Medina’s casino. They both failed to declare the gifts on their “Form 700.”
Lum pleaded guilty to “honest services mail fraud and aiding and abetting” and was sentenced to “18 months on Counts 2 and 3 – each count to be served concurrently” last Sept. 13, 2007 plus payment of assessment fees.
According to the sentencing calculation of Assistant U.S. Attorney Robin L. Harris, “Although Lum’s criminal conduct is particularly reprehensible in light of the position of public trust Lum held, Lum has suffered other consequences as a result of his criminal conduct, including losing his November 2006 reelection bid, which occurred shortly after Lum was indicted in this case.”
Maldonado pleaded guilty to one count of “honest services mail fraud” and was sentenced to six months home confinement with electronic monitoring, $100 special assessment, $100,000 fine, mental health treatment, no contact with co-defendant, namely, Philip Lum, last July 13, 2007.
Medina has been a popular success story for a farmer’s son who arrived in the United States in 1971 with only a few clothes and a crisp $100 bill in his pocket. After landing a job as an office printing clerk,Mr. Medina rented a bus that would take passengers to Reno, Nevada casinos. He would later put up Lucky Tours, which now has 25 deluxe buses and nine offices in the Bay Area, and a remittance company, Lucky Money, with 200 employees, which has offices in the Philippines, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Australia, Cambodia and Guam. He also now owns a restaurant and the crown jewel of his business, Lucky Chances Casino, that opened in 1998 and draws about 800 to 1,000 people daily. Last year, Lucky Chances paid Colma $3.6-M in gaming taxes.
A foundation named after him has been donating to charities, like churches and schools in the U.S. and the Philippines. He has also friends in high places both in the Philippines and in the United States.(Ronnie M. Estrada contributed to this report)
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Daylight stabbing of 55-year old Filipino in his home angers
Jersey City neighborhood.
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JERSEY CITY– A 55- year old Filipino computer operator was found murdered here in Jersey City on Thursday, November 6.
Jose “Ping” Tecson’s body was discovered by his wife Rufina, in their home at 133 Roosevelt Avenue, when she came back from work at a local Target store. She discovered her husband in the bathroom, tied up and dead from multiple stab wounds to the chest and abdomen. Authorities reveal that the murder occurred between 8:00 AM and 3:00 PM.
It was initially believed to be a robbery-homicide case, however, the authorities did not see any signs of forced entry. More startling is the fact that the suspects who stabbed Tecson to death did not take anything of value from their house – not even money or jewelry. Everything was reported to be intact.
A source revealed that the crime could be an inside job. It could have been done by someone the victim knew or close to. The police, however, declined to make any comments because the case is still under investigation.
Jose Tecson worked as a computer operator for the Valley Nation Bank in Wayne, New Jersey. He was a loving father to his three sons, Gino, Varick and Paolo. Friends remember him as a respectful neighbor and a devoted family man.
The horrendous murder ticked-off residents of the neighborhood where many believe is spiraling towards gang-land.
“If only I have the money, I will move out of this place,” said a man whose house is just several feet away from the crime scene. “This is not an ideal place to live and raise a family. Gangs are everywhere.”
A woman living around the area also expressed disgust with the lawlessness: “My car had been vandalized a couple of times. And it is just not safe to walk around not just at night, but anytime of day.”
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