Casino sues Alan Stanford over bounced 'markers'
Posted by Bev Freeman on 16 Sep 2009 at 14:09
Billionaire businessman Sir Allen Stanford has another problem to add to his list - a lawsuit from a Las Vegas casino over $258,480 in unpaid gambling debts.
According to the Guardian, The Bellagio, one of the biggest names on the Las Vegas strip, is bringing the case via Nevada's Clark County district court.
It alleges that Stanford ran up losses in January not long before the US authorities raided the headquarters of his Stanford Financial Group in Houston, later charging them him fraud.
The Las Vegas Sun newspaper has reported that the lawsuit involves accusations that Stanford signed for 14 gambling markers, similar to cheques, which allow familiar customers to open up a temporary credit with a casino.
The casino took them to a Miami bank for payment in February but all 14 bounced.
The lawsuit requests payment of the debt and interest at an annual rate of 18 per cent, plus legal costs.
The 59-year-old Stanford has been refused bail ahead of his trial for conning investors out of $7 billion in savings.
According to the US Department of Justice, his bank misled customers about its track record on returns and investments.
Furthermore, the Department of Justice claims that Stanford used the money to fund a glamorous lifestyle.
The businessman is suffering health problems and went to hospital last week due to a high pulse rate, with doctors later diagnosing him with an aneurysm in his leg, which is understood not to be life threatening.
The Guardian said it had received an e-mail from Stanford's lawyer, Dick DeGuerin, based in Houston, saying Stanford could not meet the Bellagio charges because of a freeze which had been placed on his assets.
DeGuerin said, according to The Guardian, that the casino should instead sue the receivers of Stanford's company: "It's a valid personal debt and should be honoured, but the receiver is interested only in selling all the assets for a fraction of their worth, and billing $30m [so far] for his efforts," he said.
