A woman from China, Jiaying Chen, has been charged for entering into marriages with up to 14 men to finance her gambling addiction in Las Vegas. Since 2019, Chen has obtained 14 marriage certificates from Clark County, often marrying these men before soliciting money from them and then disappearing.
Her attorney, Thomas Wells, has stated that Chen intends to plead guilty to charges of bigamy and obtaining money under false pretenses, amounting to over $100,000.
According to Chen, she could earn approximately $20,000 from each marriage, and she specifically targets Las Vegas for these sham unions, citing the ease of getting married in the city. Chen was initially arrested in 2024 after submitting 14 marriage applications, of which seven certificates were issued. She was released on bond but went missing shortly after.
Last month, Chen was arrested again, this time attempting to marry under the alias Vicky Liang. She submitted an additional eight marriage applications, leading to another seven marriage certificates being issued. In her earlier arrest, she informed police that not all submissions led to marriages because, she claimed, "not everyone pays."
Chen's method involved meeting men through social media platforms, proposing marriage quickly, and fabricating stories to extract money, including false claims about needing funds for her ailing family in China. Once she received the money, she cut off all communication with the men. Some of the victims later sought annulments, but others believe they are still legally married to her.
Individual losses to her victims were significant: one man provided $40,000, another $23,000, and a third supplied $30,000. A female victim also lost $40,000 as Chen wrote bad checks from a previous husband's account.
Police estimate that Chen has gambled away up to $300,000 at the Wynn Casino in Las Vegas alone over the past year, although the total amount lost since her scams began in 2019 is not clear.
This case echoes a similar incident in the UK where a man, Nigel Baker, was sentenced to 17 years in prison for a comparable scheme. He too found victims on dating apps, convincing them to lend him money under false pretenses and then losing over $5 million gambling.
Chen now faces a one to four-year prison sentence for the bigamy charge and up to 20 years for obtaining money under false pretenses. Given her previous evasion of law enforcement, she could face a substantial sentence. However, her decision to plead guilty may influence the final outcome of her case.
