Las Vegas casinos want their money, Mr. Rezko (Updated)

Las Vegas has issued an arrest warrant for indicted political fixer Antoin "Tony" Rezko, who owes approximately $800,000 in gambling debts to several Las Vegas casinos, Jeff German reported May 29, 2008, in the Las Vegas Sun.

First the details

A warrant was issued for Rezko's arrest on May 20, 2008, and federal authorities were notified about the outstanding warrant a week later, on Tuesday, May 27, 2008. The criminal complaint was filed on May 13, 2008, "with two counts of fraud stemming from $250,000 in gambling debts at Caesars Palace and $200,000 in markers at Bally’s."

By a strange coincidence, U.S. presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.)—to whom Rezko has been a long-term friend, personal real estate fairy, and political benefactor—returned to Las Vegas on May 27, 2008, to "shore up his weaknesses in Nevada, which is in the heart of a must-win region if he is to take the presidency in November," J. Patrick Coolican reported in the Las Vegas Sun. Curiously, there is a Bellagio connection—of sorts.

Obama started his day [in Las Vegas] at the home of Felicitas Rosel and Francisco Cano, a married couple living in northeast Las Vegas who work at the Bellagio and struggle to pay their bills.

Regarding Rezko's gambling debts, German wrote

At Caesars, between March 25 and July 14, 2006 Rezko cashed a $195,000 personal check that came back for insufficient funds and was given $55,000 in markers on four other occasions, according to the complaint. He also was given four markers totaling $200,000 on July 13, 2006, at Bally’s, the complaint said.

Records show that Rezko made two restitution payments through the district attorney’s office of $7,500 each on Oct. 24 and another payment of $7,500 on Dec. 7. No additional payments were made.

Gary Thompson, a spokesman for Harrah’s Entertainment, which owns Caesars Palace and Bally’s, declined to comment [May 28, 2008]. So did Chicago attorney Howard Adelman, who sources said had discussions about the debts with the district attorney’s office on Rezko’s behalf.

Harrah’s brought the two cases to the district attorney’s office July 23[, 2007]. The $472,275 tab includes fees mandated by state law to help fund the bad check unit.

In its December 2006 lawsuit, the Bellagio alleged that Rezko cashed a $172,000 personal check with insufficient funds. It also alleged that Rezko obtained three markers totaling $159,000 on Feb. 11 and Feb. 13, 2006 and failed to pay back any of the money. The Bellagio did not ask the bad check unit to open a criminal case.

But on May 29, 2007, District Judge Valerie Adair awarded the Bellagio a judgment of default against Rezko, allowing the resort to go after the $331,000 plus interest.

A minor update
Gambling Today Online informs that federal "Judge Amy J. St. Eve , who is hearing Rezko's Chicago case. St. Eve took no immediate action to revoke Rezko's bond in response to the Las Vegas warrant."

Then the questions

1. Why was this debt not mentioned or discussed during Rezko's January 16, 2007, ex parte with federal Judge Amy St. Eve and Rezko's attorney, Joseph Duffy? The debts predated the meeting and Duffy had represented Rezko since sometime in early 2004, according to the ex parte.

2. How did Duffy get out in front of the monies owed and manage to forestall this complaint in Las Vegas until May 2008?

3. How is it that Rezko, who claimed in the January 16, 2007, ex parte that he was living off his relatives, who were contributing approximately $7,500 a month for his mortgage and upkeep, managed to make two $7,500 payments in October and December 2007 ... particularly since he told Judge St. Eve that his stakes in Chicago's Riverside development were worthless and he had no other assets?

4. Is there any connection between Rezko's gambling debts and a loan of an undisclosed amount by Iraqi-British billionaire businessman Nadhmi Auchi to Rezko co-conspirator Christopher G. Kelly. All of Kelly's interest in 640 Across I, a Nevada limited liability company, was used as collateral. "Kelly is one of five partners in the company, according to records on file at the Nevada secretary of state's office. The four others are Nevada residents."

5. Is there any connection between Rezko's gambling debts and Kelly's gambling problems? The Associated Press reported

Kelly is charged with impeding and obstructing the Internal Revenue Service. Prosecutors say he made millions of dollars in bets with a Chicago-area bookie and at Las Vegas casinos, and paid off his losses with money from his roofing company, booking them as business expenses.

Kelly was at one time the governor's point man on gambling issues. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

6. A RezkoWatch commenter states that the Bellagio has the reputation of "better detectives than Heaven. What do they have on Rezko and friends?"

7. During this same time that Rezko was making his gambling trips to Las Vegas, Daniel Mahru and Daniel Frawley, his business partners in Companion Security, the security company that was to train Iraqi security guards in Illinois for the proposed power plant in Chamchamal in Northern Iraq, were negotiating with Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and Seamus Ahern, Sen. Obama's aide in his Moline, Illinois, office. Is it possible that Mahru and Frawley were also joining Rezko on his Las Vegas trips?

8. This raises the question as to whether Sen. Obama, who is well-known for being a poker player, accompanied Rezko on any of his Las Vegas gambling junkets, as well? Where was Sen. Obama on the dates in question?

9. Rezko's gambling activities in Las Vegas also bring up the little matter that Rezko had been under investigation since sometime in 2004 (which he admitted in the January 16, 2007, ex parte) and had made approximately twenty trips to the Middle East between October 2004 and October 2006. Is there any connection between his trips to Chicago, Las Vegas and the Middle East?

Update #1

In a follow-up to his original story, Jeff German of the Las Vegas Sun reported May 30, 2008, that Rezko has hired "high-profile Las Vegas attorney" Richard Wright "to try to quickly quash a warrant for his arrest in Clark County."

Although Wright declined to comment, "sources said he is attempting to persuade the district attorney’s office to withdraw the felony warrant if Rezko resumes making payments on $472,275 in Strip gambling debts," German wrote.

The Las Vegas case poses a problem for Rezko, who is under electronically monitored federal supervision at his suburban Chicago home, no matter what verdict is reached in the corruption trial.

If Rezko is convicted in Chicago, federal prosecutors could argue the outstanding warrant is reason to further restrict his freedom while he appeals the conviction. If Rezko is acquitted, authorities would have grounds to take him back into custody and return him to Las Vegas to face the local charges.

Rezko's "reputation as a high roller in Las Vegas wasn't widely known in Illinois," Natasha Korecki and Chris Fusco reported May 30, 2008, in the Chicago Sun-Tribune. "Rezko gambled in Las Vegas with business associates and people he met in political circles, including Christopher G. Kelly, a fellow top fund-raiser for Gov. Blagojevich, sources said."

Once again, we are left with more questions than answers.

1. How does an admittedly cash-strapped Rezko, who is dependent upon the largesse of relatives to pay his mortgage and living expenses, come up with the funds to hire, never mind actually pay, a "high-profile" attorney like Wright. Who's footing the bill, Mr. Rezko?

2. How "high-profile" is Richard Wright?

Well, Richard A. Wright, of the Las Vegas law firm Wright Judd & Winckler, is a member of the legal team defending Warren Jeffs, the "52-year-old leader of the Fundamentalist LDS Church, which has been under scrutiny since a Texas ranch owned by the church was raided in Texas by authorities" in April 2008. Jeffs is the "polygamous-sect leader convicted of rape [in 2007 in Arizona] as an accomplice."

In 2006, Wright represented Chrissy Mazzeo, "the Las Vegas woman who first accused gubernatorial candidate Jim Gibbons of assaulting her."

Also in 2006, Wright represented former county commissioner Mary Kincaid-Chauncey in the "G-Sting political corruption case."

Wright's name was also recently brought up in conjunction with the case of John "Jay" Brooks, the "former Derry [N.H.] millionaire accused of murdering Jack Reid, [who] may have hired lawyers to help develop cover stories and urge his co-conspirators not to talk shortly after Reid's 2005 death."

3. How does Rezko plan to resume making payments? He has no assets, no income. From what deep well does he intend to draw hundreds of thousands of dollars?

4. Who EXACTLY are these "business associates and people [Rezko] met in political circles" who gambled with him in Las Vegas? Name names, please, Mr. Rezko.

Update #2 Illinois blogger Bill Baar posted that Marathon Pundit "noted some curious things about this story and Obama's curious support for Alexi Giannulis." See more about Obama and the Giannoulias relationship here at SourceWatch.