The Bellagio Sues Sir Allen Stanford for Unpaid Markers

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Las Vegas casino files lawsuit against Sir Allen Stanford

All 14 gambling markers, cheque-like instruments that allow gamblers to open a line of credit with a casino, that Stanford signed have bounced

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• Andrew Clark in New York
• Latest news, comment and reviews from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 2 September 2009 17.34 BST
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Stanford has been refused bail while he awaits trial for fiddling thousands of investors out of $7bn in savings. Photograph: Dave Einsel/Getty Images

Unwell, behind bars and stripped of his fortune, the billionaire financier Sir Allen Stanford is facing yet another headache – a Las Vegas casino is suing him for $258,480 (£160,000) in unpaid gambling debts.
The Bellagio,on the Las Vegas Strip, has filed a lawsuit in Nevada's Clark County district court accusing Stanford of running up gaming losses in January barely a month before the US authorities raided the Houston headquarters of his Stanford Financial Group and charged him with fraud.
Details of the suit, according to the Las Vegas Sun newspaper, say that Stanford signed for 14 gambling markers, which are cheque-like instruments allowing regular customers to open up a temporary line of credit with a casino. The casino, which is owned by MGM Mirage, presented them for payment at a Miami bank on 19 February, just as Stanford's business empire was beginning to collapse, but all 14 of the markers bounced. The Bellagio's lawsuit seeks payment of the alleged debt, plus interest calculated at an annual rate of 18% and recompense for legal costs.Court documents include a copy of the identification provided by Stanford to the casino – a driving licence giving the address of his Caribbean estate in the US Virgin Islands.
For Stanford, the latest legal challenge comes at a miserable moment. The 59-year-old, best known in Britain for bankrolling cricket's Twenty20 tournaments, has been refused bail while he awaits trial for fiddling thousands of investors out of $7bn in savings. The US Department of Justice alleges that his bank defrauded customers by lying about its track record of returns and its investment strategy, and that Stanford used clients' funds to bankroll his own jetset lifestyle.
He was rushed from his Texan prison cell to hospital last week suffering from an accelerated pulse rate . Doctors diagnosed him with an aneurysm in his leg – a condition which is not considered to be life threatening – and he was returned to jail after five days of treatment.
In an email to The Guardian, Stanford's Houston-based lawyer, Dick DeGuerin, said his client had been unable to pay the Bellagio because of a freeze on his assets imposed by the Securities and Exchange Commission. DeGuerin said the casino ought to sue the receivers of Stanford International: "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."
Prosecutors scored a breakthrough last week when the chief financial officer of Stanford International, James Davis, pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud. Davis is helping prosecutors with their investigation in return for a more lenient sentence.


Las Vegas casino files lawsuit against Sir Allen Stanford | World news | guardian.co.uk

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