Power
of Triple Five
Jeff German and Steve Kanigher
Monday, May 15, 2006 | 7:18 a.m.
During Erin Kenny's
testimony last month at the corruption trial of two former Clark County
commissioners, federal prosecutors asked if she had taken bribes from anyone
other than ex-strip club owner Michael Galardi.
"Yes, one other
party," replied Kenny, a former county commissioner who had also taken
bribes from Galardi but later agreed to cooperate in the government's case.
In 2000, Kenny said, she
began receiving $3,000 a month in cash from Triple Five Nevada Development
Corp., one of Southern Nevada's most prominent real estate developers. The
payments began just months after she voted in favor of the company's ill-fated
casino proposal in Spring Valley and the money flowed for nearly three years,
she said.
Kenny added that Triple
Five started paying her only after she asked for a job. The company knew it had
no other business coming before the commission, she said.
Nonetheless, her testimony
cast a shadow over the high-powered Triple Five - a company with international
ties that has built some of the Las Vegas Valley's largest retail centers and
is a major political player in Southern Nevada.
Triple Five issued a
statement after Kenny's testimony, strongly denying the allegation.
"Having already
pleaded guilty to betrayal of the public trust in so many different ways, her
alleged testimony is not worthy of belief," the statement said.
Jurors, however, regarded
her testimony, and Galardi's, as credible enough to convict former County
Commissioners Dario Herrera and Mary Kincaid-Chauncey. Whether federal authorities
believed her about Triple Five is an open question.
Assistant U.S. Attorney
Daniel Schiess, the lead prosecutor, said he had asked Kenny about her dealings
with Triple Five to show the jury that she was "involved in other corrupt
activities," which he did not identify.
After the trial,
prosecutors said the federal corruption investigation is continuing. But they
will not comment on the Triple Five bribery claim or whether they are looking
into Kenny's allegation.
Local ethics and political experts say the government now has an
obligation to resolve the accusation one way or another.
"It's just hanging there right now," said Craig Walton,
a UNLV professor emeritus and president of the Nevada Center for Public Ethics.
"It's got to be looked at," Walton said. "There are
a lot of us in the valley who don't believe that bribery on retainer is the way
of political life."
Sig Rogich, a longtime political consultant who has represented
gaming and development interests, said investigators have no choice but to
delve further into the allegation.
"It would not speak highly of the government if it only went
after the elected officials and not the businesses that may have contributed to
the problem," Rogich said.
Don Williams, another veteran political consultant, said state and
local law enforcement authorities, including the Nevada attorney general's
office, also should be looking into Kenny's claim.
"There ought to be investigations popping up from all kinds
of government entities," Williams said.
Williams said Kenny's testimony did not surprise him.
"Every step of the political process here is
vulnerable," said Williams, who has been part of the Southern Nevada
political scene for nearly 40 years. "You can make deals up and down the
line."
In a relatively short period of time, Triple Five Nevada - part of
a privately owned conglomeration run by one of Canada's wealthiest families,
the Ghermezians - has become a political force in Southern Nevada, contributing
to many campaigns.
The family empire was built by patriarch Jacob Ghermezian, who
grew up in Azerbaijan in the former Soviet Union and eventually moved to
Tehran, where he operated a carpet business. An apartment complex Ghermezian
owned in Tehran played host to a 1943 conclave involving then-President Franklin
Roosevelt, British leader Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin
that helped plan the invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe in World War II.
Ghermezian moved his carpet business to Montreal in the 1950s,
becoming one of North America's largest importers of Persian rugs. A decade
later, Ghermezian moved again to Edmonton, Alberta, and began investing in land
there. That's where the family's parent company, Triple Five Corp., is based.
After Ghermezian died in 2000, his four sons, Eskandar, Nader, Bahman
and Raphael, took over the family business. A third generation of Ghermezians,
including Eskandar's son David, now help run many of Triple Five's businesses
in Las Vegas and elsewhere in this country.
"Behind the facade of Marx Brothers-style merriment, the
close-knit, hyperactive Ghermezian brothers are demanding, high-pressure
negotiators who drive a hard bargain," the Washington Post wrote in 1986.
The newspaper reported that the brothers "work from a suite
of interconnecting offices and share the same telephone lines. They frequently
tap into one another's calls and drop in on each other's meetings. Each of the
brothers has an area of expertise. Eskandar concentrates on finance and
construction. Nader is the public relations spokesman and liaison with
governments. Raphael focuses on legal matters. Bahman, the youngest,
specializes in real estate and operations."
The family is secretive, which is why little is known about them.
The Toronto Star reported in 1988 that they lived in a private Edmonton compound
surrounded by barbed wire. Other news accounts have stated that the homes are
connected by tunnels.
"Their marriages were arranged," the newspaper wrote of
the brothers. "Their mother went to Iran to hand-pick her sons' wives,
each of whom has a different religion, which has been adopted by each husband.
"The brothers eat lunch together every day to break up their
regular 12-hour work schedules, often shouting each other down to get a point
across."
During rare interviews, they have declined to answer personal
questions and almost never agree to be photographed. Their elusiveness has left
the family open to numerous rumors, including speculation that they have been
financed by Middle Eastern oil money, something they have denied.
Over the years the family has become adept at developing grandiose
shopping malls. It built the world's largest, the West Edmonton Mall in
Edmonton, in 1981, and later this country's largest, the Mall of America in
Bloomington, Minn., in 1992.
The Ghermezians entered the booming Las Vegas real estate market
in the 1990s with little fanfare and quietly built an empire of upscale retail
centers around the valley.
Triple Five's developments include Grand Canyon Parkway, Silverado
Ranch Place, Boca Park Marketplace, Village Square and Colonnade Square at
Pebble.
In the works is the company's most ambitious project here, the
enclosed Great Mall of Las Vegas at the northwest corner of U.S. 95 and the Las
Vegas Beltway, which could open by 2008.
As it has carved out its niche in commercial real estate, Triple
Five has seen the value of contributing to local campaigns to boost its
business interests.
The company and its long list of local affiliates (it has created
dozens of limited liability companies here) have given money almost exclusively
to candidates in Clark County Commission races and in city council and mayoral
contests in Las Vegas, North Las Vegas and Henderson.
These are the elected offices that have authority over zoning
matters that have affected Triple Five's projects.
Records show that since 1998 the company and its affiliates, most
of which are based at 9510 W. Sahara Ave., Suite 200, have poured at least
$153,000 into Southern Nevada campaigns .
Current and former county commissioners who have received
contributions include Kenny, Kincaid-Chauncey, Lance Malone, Mark James, Chip
Maxfield, Myrna Williams, Rory Reid, Yvonne Atkinson Gates, Bruce Woodbury and
Lynette Boggs McDonald.
Three local mayors, Oscar Goodman of Las Vegas, Michael Montandon
of North Las Vegas and Jim Gibson of Henderson, have been Triple Five
recipients.
Gibson recently returned $10,000 he received in December for his
Democratic gubernatorial bid after his Democratic primary foe, Senate Minority
Leader Dina Titus of Las Vegas, made a campaign issue out of the contribution.
Titus called upon Gibson to give back the money to "avoid any appearance
of impropriety."
Among the current and former Las Vegas City Council members who
have received Triple Five donations are Michael McDonald, Larry Brown, Lawrence
Weekly, Steven Ross, Gary Reese and Janet Moncrief. Henderson City Council
members Andy Hafen, Steven Kirk and Amanda Cyphers also were Triple Five
recipients.
Triple Five also has not been shy about putting public officials
on its payroll.
Former Las Vegas Councilman Michael Mack served as a graphics art
consultant to Triple Five while he was on the council. Throughout his council
tenure, Mack was accused of ethical breaches, and Galardi told FBI agents that
he had given him cash under the table, though Mack was not charged in the
Galardi case.
At times the Ghermezian family's business dealings have been mired
in controversy in Edmonton and Las Vegas.
In 1974, two of the brothers, Eskandar and Raphael, were accused
of offering $40,000 to an Edmonton city alderman for a favorable vote on one of
their projects, according to Canadian newspaper reports. A judicial inquiry
confirmed that the money was offered but concluded that it was for "past
services" and did not constitute a bribe.
Then, in August 1998, the government-owned Alberta Treasury
Branches filed a lawsuit against the Ghermezians, alleging that the family used
a secret Israeli bank account to bribe the financial institution's former top
executive in return for approving a $440 million refinancing package for the
West Edmonton Mall.
The Ghermezians and the former bank official flatly denied the
bribery allegation, and the family filed a countersuit against Alberta Treasury
Branches. The bribery allegation was never proven and the two sides reached an
out-of-court settlement in December 2002.
Triple Five's biggest brouhaha here involved its Spring Valley
casino proposal, which was approved by the County Commission in January 2000
despite strenuous objections from residents in the neighborhood. The project
later died, however, after it was rejected by a state oversight panel.
Kenny's testimony in the
corruption trial last month rekindled the controversy, shedding new light on
why she ignored the pleas of her constituents and pushed hard for the casino on
behalf of Triple Five.
She testified that after
she voted for the proposal, Triple Five started paying her $3,000 a month
through May 2003, when FBI agents broke open the corruption investigation with
raids on Galardi's strip clubs.
She said the payments were
made by former Triple Five Vice President Don Davidson on behalf of Eskandar
Ghermezian, who claimed he owed her a "life debt" over the Spring
Valley casino vote.
In the beginning, Kenny
said, Davidson brought her work to do in return for the money - she edited
company brochures. Eventually, however, the work stopped coming in, but not the
money.
"What happened with
respect to the job and money?" Schiess asked Kenny.
"Over time, he would
give me jobs to do," she said. "I would do the jobs, whatever they
were, and at the end of every month he would pay me. And after about three or
four months, maybe a little longer, he stopped giving me work to do ..."
Schiess: "What would
happen each month when the work would stop coming in connection with Mr. Davidson?"
Kenny: "He just
continued to pay me."
Schiess: "How much did
he pay you?"
Kenny: "Three thousand
dollars."
Schiess: "In what
form?"
Kenny: "Cash."
Evidence provided by Kenny led to a federal indictment in November
of Davidson on charges he gave Kenny $200,000 in bribes unrelated to Triple
Five. He allegedly paid the money for Kenny's help in pushing zoning changes
that cleared the way for construction of a CVS Pharmacy at Desert Inn Road and
Buffalo Drive.
Triple Five was not involved in that project. But the indictment
does give investigators leverage if they have reason to pressure him for
possible evidence against Triple Five. Davidson's son, Lawrence, a disbarred
lawyer, was also named in the indictment. Both have pleaded not guilty.
The alleged Triple Five
payments to Kenny were mentioned in the indictment, although the company was
not identified by name.
"From in or around
2000 to in or about May 2003, defendant Donald Davidson and Kenny met each
other monthly for social reasons," the indictment said. "Each month
defendant Donald Davidson gave Kenny $3,000 cash from a real estate developer
because of a favorable vote that Kenny had cast in a controversial matter on
behalf of the developer."
Her admitted dealings with Triple Five don't surprise Spring
Valley residents who battled the Triple Five casino proposal six years ago.
"A lot of us didn't understand why we had to fight so
hard," said Lisa Mayo-DeRiso, one of the activists in the political
battle. "People always suspected she was getting paid off, but no one
really wanted to believe it."
Though Triple Five and Davidson denied paying bribes to Kenny,
Mayo-DeRiso said the company owes the community an apology.
"You would like to see Triple Five come back and say, 'We're
sorry. We really violated the trust of the community, and we're going to make
things right,' " she said.
Andy Rankin, general counsel for Triple Five in Nevada, would not
comment for this story. But sources close to the company said Triple Five is
confident that Kenny's courtroom testimony did not demonstrate wrongdoing by
the company.
Davidson's lawyer, Dominic Gentile, also said his client did
nothing wrong.
Kenny, it turns out, wasn't
the only commissioner whose actions were questioned in the Spring Valley casino
debate.
Former County Commissioner
Lance Malone had promised Triple Five's competitor in the area, neighborhood
casino giant Station Casinos Inc., that he would not support the Triple Five
project. He also told residents in the area that he wouldn't vote for the proposal.
But at the last minute,
Malone switched allegiance to Triple Five and ended up becoming the swing vote
that led to the County Commission's approval.
"It just smacked us in the face," Mayo-DeRiso recalled.
"We were like, 'How could this happen?' "
After the vote, in which Malone admitted going back on his word,
an outraged Station Casinos worked successfully to defeat him in his
re-election bid in 2000.
Malone later went to work as a lobbyist for Galardi. He became the
middleman allegedly spreading around cash to Kenny, Herrera, Kincaid-Chauncey
and others who were asked to favor Galardi's business interests.
Malone was convicted in San Diego federal court last year of being
Galardi's bagman with politicians there. He is scheduled to stand trial on
similar charges in Las Vegas in August.
A couple of months before
the Spring Valley casino vote, campaign records show, Malone collected $14,500
in campaign contributions from Triple Five and its affiliates.
FBI reports obtained by the
Sun quote Galardi alleging more questionable conduct on the part of Malone and
Triple Five.
Galardi, while striking a
deal to cooperate with the government in 2003, told FBI agents that Malone told
him that he received $150,000 from Triple Five and the Ghermezian brothers for
supporting the Spring Valley proposal.
Malone reportedly indicated
that he had "worked under the table" with the Ghermezians without the
knowledge of Station Casinos and others who thought he was opposing the
project.
"Malone came to Galardi and advised him of what he was doing
and Galardi indicated to Malone that it was not the right thing to do,"
the FBI said in the reports of interviews with Galardi.
Many names were blacked out in the FBI reports, with persons and
companies identified only generically. A close reading of the reports by the
Sun shows that "Company #1" referred to Triple Five, and the brothers
were identified together as "individual #10."
The FBI also quoted Galardi
as alleging that the Ghermezians gave money to former Las Vegas Councilman
Michael McDonald.
Galardi claimed that
McDonald, once a paid Galardi consultant, told him that he had received $50,000
in cash from the "brothers" for his "City Council influence on
business deals that would affect" Triple Five.
"After McDonald received the $50,000 cash," FBI agents
said, "he came over to the construction site of Galardi's new residence
and, while visiting in the construction trailer on Galardi's property, advised
him of the receipt of the $50,000 from company #1."
Later Galardi told FBI agents that Malone had set up a meeting
between McDonald and one of the "individual #10" brothers at a
development project, where McDonald received the money.
Galardi recalled that McDonald showed him a duffle bag that he
said contained the cash.
Rankin declined to comment on Galardi's claims.
But Gentile, who also represents Malone, said the allegations
about his client were "absolutely not true.
"There's so much that Mike Galardi has said that is untrue
and fabricated," Gentile said. "This is just one more item that falls
into that category."
https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/152916110/
1.
Nov 23, 2005 - ... involving former county
Commissioner Erin Kenny, U.S. Attorney for ... Kenny, who lost a bid in 2002 for lieutenant
governor, was not charged in the case. ... Donald Davidson was a vice president
of Triple
Five Development
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U.S. Department of Justice
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United States Attorney
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District of Nevada
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Daniel G. Bogden
United States Attorney
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333 Las Vegas Blvd. South
Suite 5000
Las Vegas, NV 89101
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Telephone (702) 388-6336
FAX (702) 388-6296
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THREE
INDICTED, TWO PLEAD GUILTY IN POLITICAL CORRUPTION INVESTIGATION
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-FORMER
& PRESENT CLARK COUNTY COMMISSIONERS CHARGED-
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LAS VEGAS - - Daniel G. Bogden,
United States Attorney for the District of Nevada, Ellen B. Knowlton,
Special Agent-in-Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation for Nevada,
and Clark County Sheriff Bill Young, announce that the Federal Grand Jury
returned an Indictment today against former Clark County, Nevada Commissioners
LANCE MATTHEW MALONE and DARIO HERRERA, ages 41 and 30, respectively, and
current Clark County Commissioner MARY KINCAID-CHAUNCEY, age 65, all
residents of Las Vegas, Nevada. MALONE is charged with conspiring to
violate the Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO),
Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud, Wire Fraud, and Criminal Forfeiture, in
connection with allegations that he conspired to deprive the Clark County
Commission and the citizens of Clark County of their right to the honest services
of public officials. Defendants KINCAID-CHAUNCEY and HERRERA are charged
with Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud, Wire Fraud, Extortion Under Color of
Official Right, and Criminal Forfeiture.
The Indictment alleges that LANCE MALONE, who served as a Clark County
Commissioner from January 1997 to January 2001, and thereafter was employed
by Las Vegas strip club owner MICHAEL GALARDI, solicited and received
money, property, and services from MICHAEL GALARDI either for the purpose
of being influenced by GALARDI during his time as a county commissioner or
for the purpose of influencing defendants HERRERA, KINCAID-CHAUNCEY, and
former County Commissioner ERIN KENNY, in matters relating to zoning,
licensing, and other decisions that would favorably affect MICHAEL GALARDI
and his Las Vegas gentlemen's club/strip club businesses. The Indictment
alleges that defendants KINCAID-CHAUNCEY and HERRERA, and ERIN KENNY
solicited and accepted money, property, and services from defendant MALONE
and used their public offices to further MICHAEL GALARDI's interests. The
Indictment further alleges that members of the conspiracy concealed the
payments they received from GALARDI and failed to disclose the payments as
required by law and their fiduciary duties as County Commissioners.
Some of the matters which the defendants allegedly influenced corruptly
include the passage of a Clark County Ordinance that increased the
separation between strip clubs from 500 to 1000 feet; the issuance of
zoning use permits and liquor license for Jaguars; the controlling and
harassing of MICHAEL GALARDI's business competitors; the defeat of a
proposed ordinance that would have prohibited all touching between dancers
and patrons except hand-to-hand tipping (the No-Touch Ordinance); the
defeat of a revised No-Touch Ordinance that permitted limited physical
contact between dancers and patrons, but prohibited a patron from placing a
tip in a dancer's G-String and prohibited anyone under the age of 21,
including dancers, from being in a strip club that served alcohol; and the
annexation of Jaguars from Clark County to the City of Las Vegas.
The United States Attorney's Office also announces that the District Court
has unsealed Plea Memorandums and Criminal Informations against former
Clark County Commissioner ERIN KENNY, age 42, and businessman MICHAEL DEAN
GALARDI, age 41, both of Las Vegas.
On October 24, 2003, MICHAEL GALARDI pleaded guilty before United States
District Judge James Mahan to a single-count Criminal Information charging
GALARDI with violating the RICO Act. MICHAEL GALARDI has admitted that from
at least 1994 to May 2003, he and his co-conspirators devised a scheme to
increase the profitability and competitive advantage of his gentlemen's
clubs/strip clubs in Las Vegas by paying certain local public officials
money or providing them property and services in exchange for their influence
over matters that came before them. According to the Information, MICHAEL
GALARDI directly, or through intermediaries, paid over time a sum total of
between $200,000 and $400,000 to certain public officials. Pursuant to his
Plea Agreement, MR. GALARDI has agreed to forfeit $3,850,000 and to divest
himself of his ownership and management interests in, and the liquor and
business licenses for, the Cheetahs and Jaguars Gentlemen's Clubs in Las
Vegas. He also has agreed to cooperate fully in the investigation and
prosecution of other persons and to pay restitution in the amount of
$200,000 to the City of Las Vegas and $200,000 to Clark County. The
statutory maximum penalty for a RICO violation is twenty years
imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, or both.
On July 24, 2003, ERIN KENNY pleaded guilty to a three-count Criminal
Information charging her with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and wire
fraud for the purpose of depriving the citizens of Nevada of her honest
services as a Clark County Commissioner. MS. KENNY has admitted that no
later than June 2001, she entered into an agreement with MICHAEL GALARDI,
LANCE MALONE, and others in which they would pay her to use her official
position to exercise influence on the Clark County Commission over matters
affecting MICHAEL GALARDI's businesses. ERIN KENNY admitted that she
received cash payments from MICHAEL GALARDI through LANCE MALONE for using
her influence to pass and/or amend Clark County ordinances beneficial to
MICHAEL GALARDI and his businesses. MS. KENNY also agreed to forfeit
$70,258.53 in U.S. currency. The conspiracy count has a statutory maximum
penalty of five years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine, and the substantive
wire fraud counts each have a maximum statutory penalty of 20 years
imprisonment and a $250,000 fine.
Summons were issued to defendants MALONE, HERRERA, and KINCAID-CHAUNCEY.
Their initial appearance and arraignment hearings are set for November 21,
2003, at 8:30 a.m. MICHAEL GALARDI and ERIN KENNY are released on bond
pending sentencing.
If convicted, defendants HERRERA and KINCAID-CHAUNCEY are facing a
statutory maximum sentence of up to five years in prison on the conspiracy
to commit wire fraud charges (Count 1); up to 20 years in prison on each of
the substantive wire fraud charges (Counts 2 - 15); and up to 20 years in
prison on each of the Extortion charges (Counts 15 - 20). If convicted,
defendant MALONE faces up to five years in prison on the conspiracy to
commit wire fraud charges (Count 1); up to 20 years in prison on each of the
substantive wire fraud charges (Counts 2 - 15); and up to 20 years in
prison on the RICO Conspiracy charge (Count 21). The Criminal Forfeiture
Counts allege that LANCE MALONE shall forfeit $350,000 in U.S. currency if
convicted of the wire fraud counts, and $750,000 in U.S. currency if
convicted of the RICO count. The forfeiture counts allege that MARY
KINCAID-CHAUNCY shall forfeit $40,000 in U.S. currency if convicted of the
wire fraud counts, and $20,000 in U.S. currency if convicted of the
Extortion count. The allegations against DARIO HERRERA charge that he shall
forfeit $60,000 in U.S. currency if convicted of the wire fraud counts, and
$50,000 in U.S. currency if convicted of the Extortion count. The actual
sentences will be dictated by the United States Sentencing Guidelines,
which take into account a number of factors and will be imposed in the
discretion of the Court.
The prosecutions are the result of a joint investigation by Special Agents
with the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Las Vegas, Detectives with the
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, and Special Agents of the
Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation. The cases are being
prosecuted by Steven W. Myhre, First Assistant United States Attorney,
Daniel R. Schiess, Assistant United States Attorney, and Tom Ott and David
Malagold, Trial Attorneys with the Department of Justice Organized Crime
and Racketeering Section.
The public is reminded that an indictment contains only charges and is not
evidence of guilt. The defendants are presumed innocent and are entitled to
a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond
a reasonable doubt.
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Kenny
was a marvelous advocate for whomever she was advocating for, brazenly
shilling for labor unions trying to banish Wal-Mart from the community or
rounding up votes for Triple Five trying to get approval for a casino.
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Later that year Boyd Gaming and Triple Five Nevada
Development Corp. pushed for an eight-story casino in a shopping center near
Flamingo Road and Grand Canyon Drive.
The January 2000 approval of that
neighborhood casino was widely criticized for violating the intent of a state
law prohibiting neighborhood casinos.
Kenny joined with Mary
Kincaid-Chauncey and Malone in supporting the casino, while three commissioners
abstained. The vote was political suicide for Malone, who had assured residents
he would not support the casino but changed his mind and voted for it.
Malone lost his re-election bid later
that year.
The casino was challenged in court,
and the commission's vote for approval was subsequently thrown out.
Boyd,
Triple Five, its attorneys and employees donated nearly $30,000 to Kenny's 1998
election campaign and donated at least $50,000 to Kincaid-Chauncey, according to a
Sun analysis of campaign finance reports.
Triple
Five executive Don Davidson has hired a defense attorney in relation to the
current federal investigation. Kenny and Kincaid-Chauncey have been identified
as targets of the probe, while Malone, former Commissioner Dario Herrera and
former Las Vegas City Councilman Michael McDonald, are considered subjects.
…
Immediately after she left office in January, Kenny
concentrated her time on lobbying for both Triple Five and Rhodes.
https://lasvegassun.com/news/2003/aug/29/erin-being-erin/
Erin has said that
she used to meet with developer Donald Davidson once a month, and that he would
toss her treats—$2,000 or $3,000—for every vote she cast favorable to his
plans. Then, in 2001, she said to hell with my constituents' wishes and helped
rezone the Desert Inn Road-Buffalo Drive region, in order for a CVS Pharmacy to
be erected there; and in the end, according to the Department of Justice, she
received $200,000 from Davidson and $100,000 from his company, Triple Five
Development, to be placed in her own personal account overseas.
…
She confirmed that she had received $100,000 from the Triple Five Development corporation;
She acknowledged the $200,000 she got from its vice president,
Donald Davidson, and $20,000 more from another developer, through Davidson,
known only as Chinaman;
…
(Later, a
lawyer for Triple Five, speaking to the Las Vegas Sun in an effort to
rebut Erin's implications of his client, turned a negative spin on Erin's
definitive characteristics:
"This is a very intelligent and wily person who spent years
lying to the public and getting away with it. She is going to say whatever is
going to work out best for her.")
The corrupt former county
commissioner handed federal authorities unexpected gifts when she admitted she
was a crook on May 15, 2003. FBI agents had damning tapes of conversations of
her discussing bribes from topless club owner Michael Galardi. Then the final
question of the day: Did you take bribes from anyone else?
Actually, yes. She confessed she also welcomed bribes from real
estate developer Donald Davidson. She said the vice president at Triple Five
Development gave her $200,000 for a zone change vote for a CVS Pharmacy. She
said that for about two years, he handed her $3,000 a month on behalf of his
boss Eskander Ghermezian as a thank you for a zoning vote in behalf of a
never-built casino. And, oh yes, she remembered Davidson gave her a separate
bribe from developer John Hui for somewhere between $5,000 and $20,000.
Jane Ann
Morrison’s column appears Monday, Thursday and Saturday. E-mail her at
Jane@reviewjournal.com or call 383-0275.
Ex-tenants sue Boca Park
developer
April 5, 2008 - 9:00
pm
He looks more like a Luigi than a Versace.
Rick Knight acknowledges the transition from
pizza chain owner to a women’s fashion boutique operator five years ago was
unusual, but he said he was persuaded by the Canadian-based Ghermezian family
to switch paths in 2003.
He would be able to afford Ferraris, he said he
was told. He could open 30 more shops across the country. He could be one of
them — a billionaire.
Knight believed it. After all, he said, the
suggestion came from a wealthy developer who built America’s largest shopping
center, a worldwide tourist attraction.
And so he opened his first boutique, Rage, at
Boca Park in Summerlin in 2003.
“When you meet with these guys, they are so
intimidating, they are so powerful. You think their word is gold,” said Knight,
whose Mr. Eatz pizza stores had turned him into a successful Las Vegas
businessman.
Knight is referring to the father-son team of
Eskander and David Ghermezian, now defendants in lawsuits filed by Knight and
six other former tenants of Ghermezian properties who claim the family’s
business tactics torpedoed their dreams and left them broke.
The six tenants are being sued by the
Ghermezian’s Triple Five Nevada Development Company for breach of contract.
Each filed counter-suits echoing Knight’s complaint that they were “induced to
enter into leases based on unfair bargaining practices and unconscionable
conduct.”
They also claim they signed their leases under
false pretenses that the shopping centers were thriving when in reality they
struggled. The former tenants say Triple Five agreed to release them from their
leases and then sued them for breach of contract and lost rent.
“Basically what they (the Ghermezians) did was
they came here to Las Vegas as entrepreneurs and they’re making their millions
off the backs of locals,” said Sigal Chattah, a Las Vegas attorney representing
the former tenants. “They have managed to use the locals’ money and bring
locals in to conduct their business in a way that lacks serious integrity.”
Knight admits he had no business entering the
fashion industry. A high school drop-out, he worked as a cook at a pizza joint.
Driven to succeed, he opened five pizza restaurants in Las Vegas. His fortunes
allowed him to purchase a high-end home, investment properties and luxury cars.
Knight says he now has nothing.
He blames his loss on the Ghermezians, whom he
claims persuaded him to lease larger units and promised he would make profits
of $40,000 each month with his Rage boutique. He said the Ghermezians
encouraged him to open more stores, so Knight leased space in three other
Ghermezian shopping centers. Within three years, he was broke.
“I lost my wife, I lost my houses, I lost my
cars, I lost my friends; I lost everything,” the 33-year-old said Tuesday. “My
friends went bankrupt because of me.”
Knight claims the Ghermezians steered him away
from the restaurant business because retail is more beneficial to commercial
developers. Retail shops are more stable and therefore more appealing to loan
institutions, he said. And knowing that his stores were struggling, they
persuaded him to open more, he said. Things would turn around, the developers
promised, according to his lawsuit.
“I’m not a victim; I’m not stupid,” Knight said.
“But I’m talking to these people who are powerful and they believed in me.”
Andrew Rankin, an attorney for Triple Five
Development, said it was Knight who proposed opening a clothing boutique and
the Ghermezians did what they could to accommodate him.
“This has gained publicity because it’s Triple
Five,” Rankin said. “I don’t think the claims have any merit whatsoever.”
The names Ghermezian and Triple Five gained
unwanted attention in Las Vegas two years ago during a political corruption
scandal that sent four former Clark County commissioners to federal prison.
Former Commissioner Erin Kenny, the government’s
star witness, testified in 2006 that Eskander Ghermezian delivered to her
$3,000 a month in illegal payments over a three-year period after she attempted
to push through a controversial casino in the Spring Valley neighborhood.
“Las Vegas has worked very hard to get rid of
the reputation for corruption that it had for the past 20 years,” Chattah said.
“The Ghermezians are now bringing their toxic business practices back into the
new Las Vegas.”
Neither the Ghermezians nor their development
company have been criminally charged in connection with the political
corruption case.
Disgruntled former tenants of Ghermezian-owned
properties say they fear the family is so powerful, they might be deprived of a
fair trial. They are in the process of requesting that all seven lawsuits be
consolidated.
“I’m not implying there is any wrongdoing,” said
Chattah, who agreed to represent the tenants on a contingency fee basis. “But
it would be suspect to deny” the request to consolidate the cases.
Chattah said the complaints are virtually
identical and it would be a waste of taxpayer money to hold seven separate jury
trials. Consolidating the cases would strengthen the tenants’ claims before a
jury, she said.
Rankin said Chattah convinced the business
owners they have a case when in reality, the Ghermezians were not to blame for
the failing businesses.
“I think they are all latching on to a theory
she created,” he said. “The realistic thing is there are certain tenants who
vacated their units and didn’t fulfill their lease obligations.”
Boca Park’s current tenants are doing very well,
the attorney said. Vacancies are higher at the 145-unit Village Square, he
said, but the economy could be a factor.
Rankin suggested it is a coincidence the seven
tenants involved in the legal dispute find themselves in the same position.
“They may have been under-capitalized,” he said.
The tenants tell a different story.
Knight believes he was wronged by the
Ghermezians when they persuaded him to open four clothing shops, even though he
was pulling in as little as $50 a day on units the family said would generate
profits of $40,000 a month. He said the company never conducted background
checks on his finances or credit.
“I was investing on their promises,” said
Knight, who added he believed he was forging a solid business and personal
relationship with Eskander Ghermezian.
Knight said he now believes he served as a pawn
that allowed the Ghermezians to dupe other business owners into leasing space
at shopping centers loaded with vacancies. When prospective shop owners toured
his store, Knight said, the Ghermezians urged him to misrepresent his profits.
He figured he would also benefit by turning neighboring vacancies into thriving
businesses.
“I’m floored,” Knight said. “Everybody got
sucked in because of me.”
The Ghermezians told prospects of Knight’s
riches.
“They pointed to his Range Rover and said he
owned a million-dollar home,” said Amjad Kisswani, who signed a lease to open a
frame shop at Village Square, at Sahara Avenue and Fort Apache Road after
seeing Knight’s business.
But in reality, Knight had refinanced his home,
sold investment properties and borrowed from friends and families to stay
afloat. To keep their hopes of bringing in more lessees, Knight said the Ghermezians
kept his businesses alive by allowing him to operate rent-free for a year.
Knight figures the Ghermezians lost out on $3
million because he didn’t pay rent on his 16,000-square-feet of retail space.
And Knight is the only one of Chattah’s clients
who has not been sued for breach of contract by the Ghermezians. Knight thinks
the family backed off because of favors he provided. He said he signed bogus
leases worth nearly $20,000 so the Ghermezians could secure loans.
“Rick is the first one suing that hasn’t been
sued,” Chattah said. “They knew he could whistle-blow. He’s the one who should
have been sued.”
Rankin balked at Knight’s allegations. He said
Eskander Ghermezian met only once with Knight to wish him well. Claims that the
Ghermezians requested Knight sign bogus leases for loans are “absolutely
incorrect,” he said. Rankin added that a lawsuit wasn’t filed against Knight
because he was in collections.
Kisswani’s case was different.
He signed a lease to open a picture frame shop
at Village Square in February 2006. He was told of an advertising campaign for
the shopping center and that all necessary improvements on his space would be
completed by August. In November, his unit still was not ready.
Kisswani said he received a phone call from
Triple Five saying it had another businessman interested in leasing the unit.
Kisswani, having lost money after he invested in merchandise but was unable to
recoup the costs in sales, obliged.
“I thought it was over,” he said.
But in February 2007, Kisswani was served with a
lawsuit saying he owed the company $300,000. Fearing the suit would ruin him
financially, Kisswani closed two other businesses he owned on the Strip.
Liberty Curtis opened Liberty Touch, a home
decor store, at Village Square in 2006. She too said the Ghermezians told her
the shop would bring in $40,000 a month. Instead, she netted $1,000 a month.
She said that with Triple Five’s blessing, she opted out of her lease after her
business was burglarized twice.
She said although her space was leased
immediately, the company is suing her for $498,000.
Curtis said she was headed into bankruptcy when
she contacted Chattah for representation.
Rankin said the tenants’ claims are simply
untrue. He explained that the Ghermezians are a successful business family that
cares about its tenants and does what they can to accommodate them.
“We are willing to work with our tenants,”
Rankin said. “For a lot of them it’s their first store and we sympathize with
their plight. We are always willing to negotiate.”
Contact reporter Adrienne Packer at
apacker@reviewjournal.com or (702) 384-8710.
Credit: NJTV News
