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On August 27, the first instance of a case involving the crime of opening a casino while working in the Philippines was heard in public at the Pingqiao District People's Court in Xinyang, Henan Province. The court did not announce a verdict that day. Some of the defendants in the case were vocational school students.

On that day, the People's Court of Pingqiao District, Xinyang, tried two cases of opening casinos. Among the eight defendants in the morning trial, one was a student of Hunan Changde Haicheng Vocational School. Among the six defendants in the afternoon trial, two were students of Hunan Changde Haicheng Vocational School and one was a student of Tangshan Industrial Vocational and Technical College. Among the 14 defendants in total, four were vocational school students involved in the case. They all said that they were recommended by the school to work in the Philippines and hoped to be treated leniently.

The school gate of Changde Haicheng Vocational School (Photo provided by the interviewee)

The Paper (www.thepaper.cn) previously reported that some graduates of Changde Haicheng Vocational School in Hunan were recommended by the school to work in the Philippines, and were arrested for opening a casino after returning to China. Because it involved the "Jiuzhou Entertainment City" major cross-border gambling case that the Xinyang police in Henan Province have been investigating since 2021, these graduates were accused of being staff members of the gambling website den. After The Paper reported the incident, some students of Changde Haicheng Vocational School involved in the case were transferred to the Changde police in Hunan for investigation, and Deng Guangzhou, the principal and legal representative of Changde Haicheng Vocational School, was held criminally responsible for opening a casino.

At present, the case of some seafarer vocational school students who have been sued in Xinyang and other vocational school students involved in the case of opening a casino has been heard in Xinyang, Henan.

One defendant argued that the job was recommended by the school and hoped for a lighter sentence.

Photo by Tan Jun, a reporter from The Paper, from the People's Court of Pingqiao District, Xinyang City, Henan Province

On the morning of August 27, eight defendants in the casino case who were released on bail arrived at the Pingqiao District People's Court in Xinyang. They were all born in the 1990s and were prosecuted for engaging in related work and earning illegal income ranging from 40,000 to more than 300,000 yuan in the major cross-border gambling case of "Jiuzhou Entertainment City" in the Philippines investigated by the Xinyang police.

The first defendant, Li Ran, is a graduate of Changde Haicheng Vocational School, who was previously reported by The Paper. When she and more than a dozen classmates turned 18, they were recommended by the school to work in the Philippines. The prosecutor's office charged that from October 2017 to November 2019, Li Ran went to Manila, Philippines, and worked in the promotion department of Shoumi Consulting Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Jiuzhou Entertainment City Gambling Website, responsible for developing gamblers from mainland China to the gambling website for online gambling, earning illegal income of 77,288 yuan. On August 10, 2023, she returned 10,000 yuan of stolen money.

Photo provided by the interviewee in Manila, Philippines

Among the eight defendants, Li Ran was the only college graduate (he obtained a college diploma after graduating from Haicheng Vocational School), while the others all graduated from junior high school, high school, or technical secondary school or dropped out. The presiding judge asked whether they pleaded guilty and accepted the punishment, and most of the defendants nodded in agreement. Only Li Ran defended himself, "I was recommended to the Philippines by the school at the time. I didn't know that I was engaged in illegal gambling. I also paid more than 10,000 yuan in fees. Now the principal of the school has also been arrested for opening a casino. I hope the court will consider my situation and give me a lighter sentence."

Li Ran's defense lawyer also said that the school she attended, Changde Haicheng Vocational School, did not strictly check the work units when recommending jobs, which led her astray. She was deceived by her work unit and then took the wrong path. Li Ran's initial subjective intention was not to commit a crime, but she was forced to accept the work unit's arrangement of her work content and recruit mainland gamblers to gamble, so her subjective malice was relatively small.

Before the trial, Li Ran said that she learned from the Changde police that Deng Guangzhou, the principal of Changde Haicheng Vocational School, was arrested and prosecuted for opening a casino, and several trials have been held.

Changde Haicheng Vocational School is a full-time secondary vocational school approved by the Changde Municipal Education Bureau and registered with the Hunan Provincial Department of Education. It was established in 2005 and is a private non-enterprise unit. In August 2023, Deng Guangzhou was interviewed by The Paper and said that the school recommended jobs in the Philippines to students through Shenzhen Haixinheng Investment Management Company. He himself had visited the Philippines with school teachers to visit students. "I saw that their office space was luxurious, they lived well, and their income was high, so I felt something was wrong. But gambling is legal in the Philippines, so I didn't think too much about it at the time. I just didn't arrange for students to go there again."

During the trial, the presiding judge said, "Li Ran's situation is indeed special. She has already returned 10,000 yuan of stolen money, while some defendants have not returned a single cent of their illegal gains."

The court did not announce the verdict that morning.

The presiding judge hopes that the defendants will return the illegal gains.

On the afternoon of August 27, the Criminal Court of the Pingqiao District People's Court held the second trial. The defendants were also involved in the "Jiuzhou Entertainment City" cross-border gambling case. The Paper learned from the trial that there were a total of 6 defendants in this trial, with the case involving more than 20,000 to more than 290,000 yuan. They were all born in the 1990s. Two of them were graduates of Changde Haicheng Vocational School, which The Paper had previously reported, one was a student of Tangshan Industrial Vocational and Technical College, and another college student also claimed that he was introduced to work in the Philippines by his college classmates.

In court, all defendants pleaded guilty and accepted punishment. Zhao Lei, a student at Tangshan Industrial Vocational and Technical College, raised his hand and said, "I plead guilty, but I feel I was deceived. I went to the Philippines through the school and an agent."

Before the trial, Zhao Lei accepted an interview with The Paper and said that after graduating from high school, he entered Hebei Tangshan Industrial Vocational and Technical College and majored in international cruise ship stewardess. In the second half of 2017, after his sophomore year, he was arranged by the school to intern at a company called Hebei Jinhang Ship Technology Service Co., Ltd., and went to the Philippines through this company. For this, he paid a total of more than 30,000 yuan in training fees and job fees.

He worked in the Philippines for two months, mainly to maintain his QQ account, and then kept distributing advertisements to domestic QQ groups, "Recruiting part-time workers with a daily income of 200 to 500 yuan", to attract people to join the QQ group. After discovering the abnormality, he reported it to the school and returned to China. To this end, he showed reporters a "Certificate Letter" stamped by Tangshan Industrial Vocational and Technical College on August 23, 2023, which confirmed what Zhao Lei said above, and finally emphasized that "During the internship, the school learned that the hotel had gambling activities, and immediately contacted the company, asking it to stop the internship and arrange for the student to return to China. The student returned immediately after receiving the notice from the school." During the trial, Zhao Lei submitted the "Certificate Letter" to the court.

The certificate issued by Zhao Lei's school (Photo provided by the interviewee)

Zhao Lei said that he was not the only one from his school who went to the Philippines, there were more than a dozen other classmates, "but I should be the first one to be caught." He also complained about the school to the relevant departments, but there has been no response so far.

In court, a defense attorney believed that although the defendants were adults when they went to the Philippines, they were not very experienced in the world, and the Philippine rice collection company involved in the case conducted brainwashing training on them. "The case file shows that many defendants mentioned, 'The company said that gambling is legal in the Philippines,' which made them relax their vigilance."

The court did not announce the verdict in court, and the presiding judge hoped that the defendants would return the illegal gains.

The six defendants pleaded guilty and returned the stolen money, but they all said they had their own difficulties. For example, one defendant said that his father had passed away, and he only had his 70-year-old mother, wife and children at home, and his son needed heart surgery recently.

When students are involved in a case, how much responsibility should the vocational school bear?

Many students involved told The Paper that, apart from their prison terms, what they are most worried about now is the return of the stolen money. They believe that the school should bear some responsibility.

So, if the overseas jobs introduced to students are suspected of being crimes, what responsibility should vocational schools bear?

Chen Hao, a partner at Jiangsu Liansheng Law Firm who has handled overseas gambling cases, said that if a school knows that it is a casino and recommends students for employment, and provides assistance knowing that others have committed crimes, it can be considered a joint crime of opening a casino. If the school does not know that it is a casino, it should also be compensated for certain civil damages based on the school's fault.

He Xiaodian, former vice president of the Hunan Provincial Criminal Law Research Association, believes that since the crime of opening a casino can only be committed by a natural person, the school cannot be guilty of a crime. However, regardless of whether it knew that the job it recommended to the students was a casino, it must bear civil liability for the losses caused to the students. Specifically, different situations should be considered: one situation is the signing of a recommendation job contract. "Some vocational schools, in order to recruit students, promise to recommend jobs for students and sign contracts. This is the true intention of both the students and the school, and should be valid. The 'jobs' actually recommended by the school involved in this case are illegal and criminal, and do not fall within the scope of normal work. They are breaches of contract that fail to perform contractual obligations in accordance with the agreement. According to the relevant provisions of the Civil Code, they shall bear the liability for breach of contract or liability for damages in accordance with the law. The breach of contract liability clearly stated in the contract must be borne naturally. If the losses caused exceed the agreed liability, according to Article 585, Paragraph 2 of the Civil Code, "If the agreed liquidated damages are lower than the losses caused, the People's Court or arbitration institution may increase them at the request of the parties", they should continue to bear the losses. According to Article 584 of the Civil Code, the amount of compensation for losses shall be equal to the losses caused by the breach of contract, including the benefits that can be obtained after the performance of the contract; however, it shall not exceed the losses that the breaching party foresees or should have foreseen when entering into the contract due to the breach of contract.

In terms of the behavior in this case, these losses include a reasonable portion of the relevant fees paid by the students during their enrollment, losses caused by administrative penalties or criminal penalties for engaging in the so-called "work" recommended, such as confiscated illegal income, fines or penalties imposed, loss of wages and remuneration due to loss of personal freedom, and all other expenses such as travel expenses and recommended work fees. In addition, the "work" recommended by the school is illegal or even criminal, which will definitely cause damage to the students' reputation rights. According to Article 996 of the Civil Code, "If one party's breach of contract infringes the other party's personality rights and causes serious mental damage, and the injured party chooses to request it to bear the liability for breach of contract, it does not affect the injured party's request for mental damages", the student can also ask the school to bear the liability for mental damages.

Another situation is that there is no recommendation contract. He Xiaodian believes that, first of all, in this case, the "job" recommended by the school is illegal and even constitutes a crime. Regardless of whether the school is aware of it or not, it has serious faults and caused economic losses to others who engage in this "job", constituting infringement. According to Article 1165, Paragraph 1 of the Civil Code, "If a person violates the civil rights and interests of others due to fault and causes damage, he shall bear tort liability", the school should bear tort liability.

Secondly, as a victim, the student’s losses include all losses suffered as a result, which are the same as the scope of losses caused by the breach of the above-mentioned job recommendation contract.

Bail decision letter for a vocational school student involved in the case (Photo provided by the interviewee)

Finally, the infringement will infringe the student's reputation. According to Article 995 of the Civil Code, the victim has the right to request the perpetrator to bear civil liability, including compensation for mental damages, in accordance with the provisions of this law and other laws. Of course, the student himself is also at fault. According to Article 1173 of the Civil Code, "If the person whose rights are infringed is at fault for the occurrence or aggravation of the same damage, the liability of the infringer may be mitigated", the liability of the infringer can be mitigated.

"This case serves as a warning to schools that recommend students to work abroad, as well as students seeking high salaries overseas. When schools recommend jobs for graduating students, they should examine the content and nature of the recommended jobs. Whether work behavior is illegal or criminal should be based on my country's current laws, not foreign laws. Now some greedy people specifically use the Internet to commit crimes abroad, such as opening casinos, telecommunications fraud, pyramid schemes, and providing citizens' personal information. They package others through various legal forms such as companies, and lure others, especially students who have just entered society and do not know the depth of the situation, to "work" abroad, which is actually helping others commit crimes. After falling into the trap, a time bomb is planted in the lives of those involved. Once the case is discovered, the price paid is extremely heavy and it is difficult to regret. The schools that recommend the "jobs" are also to blame and must bear the corresponding civil liability in accordance with the law. Some of the directly responsible persons must also bear criminal liability in accordance with the law." said He Xiaodian.

(Note: The names of the vocational school students involved in the case are all pseudonyms)