Guam trio sentenced for stealing $10.75M from children’s charity

Three Guam residents received federal prison sentences after being convicted of running a fraud scheme that diverted and laundered more than $10.75 million in charitable bingo proceeds intended to fund travel expenses for children receiving medical care through Shriners Hospital for Children in Hawaii, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Districts of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands announced.

Jose Arthur D. Chan Jr., 77, of Dededo, was sentenced May 12, 2026, to 60 months in federal prison. His wife, Christine C. Chan, 64, also of Dededo, received a 70-month sentence. Fugitive Michael L. Marasigan, 54, of Dededo, was sentenced in absentia May 18, 2026, to 262 months — nearly 22 years — in prison. All three were ordered to pay joint and several restitution of $10,750,804 to the Aloha Shriners, along with separate money judgment forfeitures and mandatory assessment fees.

A jury convicted the three defendants on May 13, 2025, in the U.S. District Court of Guam on charges of conspiracy to operate an illegal gambling business, money laundering conspiracy and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Christine Chan and Marasigan were also found guilty on multiple counts of money laundering.

Prosecutors said the scheme ran from March 2015 through Dec. 31, 2021, and centered on the Guam Shrine Club and its Hafa Adai Bingo parlor in Tamuning. Art Chan served as vice president and president of the club, a nonprofit organization that purported to fund travel expenses for children and a parent or guardian traveling to Shriners Hospital for Children in Hawaii for medical care. The defendants told the public and bingo patrons that fundraising proceeds would support that charitable mission. Instead, the bingo operation generated approximately $34 million in gross proceeds, of which the defendants diverted and laundered $10,750,804 for personal gain.

Bank records showed that between 2015 and 2020, approximately $140,378 in bingo proceeds went toward the Aloha Shriners and related transportation costs, while in 2021 no proceeds were used for the club’s stated charitable purpose.

Four cooperating defendants who pleaded guilty and testified for the government received probationary or time-served sentences, with restitution obligations ranging from roughly $433,000 to more than $2.3 million.

“These defendants traded on the reputation of the Shriners Children’s healthcare system to perpetrate their multi-million-dollar fraud,” U.S. Attorney Shawn N. Anderson said. “It was an unconscionable means to personal gain.”