Le told investigators that he always went to the casino alone, and congregation members never asked to see bank account statements. A Buddhist monk was sentenced Monday to 30 months in prison after pleading guilty to embezzling more than $260,000 from the Louisiana temple he led and gambling most of the money at a casino. Finley’s office said Le, a Vietnamese citizen, may face deportation to Vietnam after his release from prison. Le served as presiding monk of the Vietnamese Buddhist Association of Southwest Louisiana’s Lafayette temple from 2010 through October 2014, when he stepped down amid the investigation. A court filing in March said Le withdrew cash from the temple’s accounts to fund his frequent gambling trips to L’Auberge Casino in Lake Charles.

Source: Hindustan Times July 25, 2016 21:00 UTC