Li Xuesong and 17 other defendants were sentenced for crimes such as opening casinos!

On December 28, 2020, the Luolong District People's Court of Luoyang City, Henan Province, pronounced a verdict in the first instance of Li Xuesong and 17 other defendants for crimes such as opening casinos. Defendant Li Xuesong was sentenced to 21 years' imprisonment and fined RMB31.64 million for the crimes of opening a casino, robbery, forced trading, picking quarrels and provoking trouble, illegal detention, extortion, gathering crowds to fight, gambling, and obstruction of testimony. Fan Hong and 16 other defendants were sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment ranging from 17 years and 6 months to 1 year for the crime of opening a casino and other crimes, and fined.

After trial, it was ascertained that since 2011, defendant Li Xuesong began to take over the operation of happy world animation city (hundreds of game halls) and Jiejia game halls belonging to Luoyang Free Space Electronic Technology Co., Ltd.; in December 2012, Li Xuesong set up Luoyang Longzun Entertainment Service Co., Ltd. and opened a Longzun game hall on the first floor of Xinhua Bookstore in Xigong District. The above three electronic game halls illegally set up fishing machines, flop machines, black and red plum parties, turning light machines, famous generals and other gambling machines to carry out gambling criminal activities, illegally obtaining huge economic benefits. Defendants Guan Jianwei, Fan Hong, Li Kaipeng, Huang Shuling, Pan Yunshui, Sun Qipeng, Fu Mingfeng, Feng Dali, Guo Yingjie, Jia Xiaofeng, Shen Junfeng, Duan Xinbo, Zhao Yuzhong, Chen Yong (handled in a separate case), Jin Baolei, Ma Rufeng (handled in a separate case), and others engaged in illegal and criminal activities such as management, counting illegal income, and "watching the scene" in the game hall. Between 2011 and 2019, Li Xuesong and others organized many people to go to Macao to gamble, and profited from "washing codes" and "returning codes" and other methods, and the gambling funds were huge. Gradually form a criminal syndicate of evil forces with Li Xuesong as the leading element, Guan Jianwei, Fan Hong, Jin Baolei, Li Kaipeng, and Chen Yong as important members, and Guo Yingjie, Ma Rufeng, Jia Xiaofeng, Shen Junfeng, Duan Xinbo, Huang Shuling, Pan Yunshui, Fu Mingfeng, Feng Dali, Sun Qipeng, and Zhao Yu as other members. The criminal group of this evil force has a relatively large number of personnel, there are obvious leading elements, and important members are basically fixed, and they often gather together to use violent threats or other means to systematically seize illegal benefits by opening casinos, robbery, forced trading, extortion, picking quarrels and provoking trouble, illegal detention, gambling, and obstructing the illegal and criminal activities of witnessing. After the criminal group obtained huge economic benefits, it began to borrow money to collect high interest from others, or to introduce others to Gamble in Macau and provide gambling chips, resulting in a number of victims forming a debt relationship to Li Xuesong personally. After that, Li Xuesong arranged for his gang members to forcibly occupy the victim's real estate, company assets and other property through threats, intimidation, nuisance, and other means. This criminal group did evil deeds, bullied and oppressed the people, disrupted the normal economic and social life order in Luoyang, and caused a relatively bad social impact.

After trial, the Luolong District People's Court of Luoyang City held that the criminal group formed by defendant Li Xuesong and 15 other defendants for jointly committing crimes had a relatively large number of members, had obvious ringleaders, fixed important members, and organized the implementation of multiple criminal activities, did evil deeds, bullied and oppressed the people, disrupted the order of economic and social life, and caused a relatively bad social impact, and belonged to the criminal group of evil forces. Defendants Li Chunqiang and Cao Changyu each participated in only one crime temporarily, and were not members of the evil forces criminal group. The above-mentioned judgments were made in accordance with law on the basis of the facts, nature, circumstances, degree of harm to society, and performance of confession and repentance of the 17 defendants' crimes.