Edward Yee, Commissioner

Edward Yee was appointed to the California Gambling Control Commission by Governor Gavin Newsom on February 23, 2021, and was reappointed for second term by Governor Newsom on February 6, 2023.

Yee started his law enforcement career on July 1993 as a police officer for the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD). After six years he joined the Orange County District Attorney's Office as a D.A. Investigator on July 1999. After 27 ½ years in law enforcement, he retired on March 2, 2021. Yee had investigated hundreds of cases involving Organized Crime and Gangs and has an extensive knowledge, background, and expertise in criminal investigation ranging from Murder, Robbery, Gambling, Loansharking, Narcotics, and other felonious crimes. Yee worked undercover as an Asian Mafia Leader for several years and infiltrated numerous transnational criminal organizations. Yee is also a Peace Officer Standards and Training Certified Firearms Range Instructor and a National Rifle Association Range Safety Officer.

Yee was also the primary instructor on Asian Organized Crime, Street "Terrorism" Gangs and Cultural Diversity at the Los Angeles Police Academy and the Orange County Sheriff's Academy for about three years. He has also lectured at the Los Angeles Sheriff's Academy, the San Bernardino Sheriff's Academy, the California Highway Patrol Academy, and other municipal police academies and gang associations across the United States.

Yee is also a court qualify expert on Asian Organized Crime and Gangs for the municipal, superior and federal courts. He is a recognized expert in the field of Chinese, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Filipino and Korean gangs.

Yee is the President of the Asian Gang Investigator's Association of California since 2002, the 3rd Vice-President for the Association of Orange County Deputy Sheriff's from 2016 to 2021, a member of the California Peace Officers' Association (CPOA), and a member of the California District Attorney Investigators' Association.

Yee was the recipient of two Medal of Valor awards from the California Attorney General's office and the CPOA for being inside a Wells Fargo bank during a robbery takeover by three-armed gang members.

Yee holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Criminal Justice Management and speaks two Chinese dialects. Prior to joining the LAPD, Yee served as a United States Marine Reserve from 1987 to 1995; he was honorably discharged as a Corporal.