Date: February 2, 2012
Author: Steve Green
URL: http://www.vegasinc.com/news/2012/feb/02/whittemore-lawsuits-moving-stranger-fiction-territ/
Whittemore lawsuits moving into stranger than fiction territory
---------------------------------------------------------------
Nevadans have seen plenty of business partnerships sour and spill over
into acrimonious lawsuits - think Michael Morton v. George Maloof Jr.
and Kazuo Okada v. Steve Wynn. But for sheer over-the-topness, look no
further than the new lawsuits pitting Reno-area attorney, developer
and super lobbyist Harvey Whittemore against his former partners. The
lawsuits, which started flying last week, read like criminal
indictments with charges of embezzlement, death threats and organized
crime ties.
However, they're only civil cases full of unproven allegations and
it's unknown whether law enforcement agencies and gaming regulators -
which are fully aware of the charges - will actually do anything about
the charges. In the meantime, Nevadans can be sure these suits will be
among the nastiest to be litigated in recent memory.
The thing that makes them so newsworthy is that the man in the
spotlight, Whittemore, is widely regarded as one of the most powerful
Nevadans with his lucrative lobbying business, high-profile real
estate developments and the medical institute he and his wife,
Annette, helped found in Reno, the Whittemore Peterson Institute for
Neuro-Immune Disease. The institute plays a prominent role in one of
the lawsuits pitting Harvey and Annette Whittemore against former
business partners Thomas Seeno, Walnut Creek, Calif.; and his brother
Albert Seeno Jr., Concord, Calif.
Three limited liability companies that include the Seenos filed suit
against the Whittemores last week in Clark County District Court in
Las Vegas. The suit charges that after Harvey Whittemore sold
interests in several companies to the Seenos beginning after 2003,
mainly in Wingfield Nevada Group Holding Co. LLC, the Seenos "began
noticing discrepancies in Wingfield's financial books and records." An
investigation then led the Seenos to believe Harvey Whittemore was
involved in "misappropriation, breach of fiduciary duties and
embezzlement of tens of millions of dollars."
Some of the companies involved in the dispute are a Dr Pepper/7Up
bottler in Reno and a company called Coyote Springs Investment LLC.
Coyote Springs Investment LLC and its sister company, Coyote Springs
Land Co. LLC, are already tied up in litigation with their development
partner, Pardee Homes, over problems at the Coyote Springs housing
development north of Las Vegas and west of Mesquite. Among the alleged
problems at Coyote Springs, now controlled by the Seenos, the lawsuit
said, is that Whittemore personally received $1.32 million in lobbying
payments from Pardee Homes.
"The transaction between Wingfield and Pardee is a complicated,
multimillion-dollar transaction that is crucial to the success of
Wingfield's business interests," the lawsuit against the Whittemores
said. "Whittemore negotiated the transaction on behalf of Wingfield
while receiving substantial personal compensation from the 'opposing'
party. This was a blatant conflict of interest in Whittemore's role as
an attorney and fiduciary to the Seenos."
The Seenos' lawsuit further alleged "embezzlement of Wingfield money
for personal meals, entertainment and personal endeavors" and
"political fundraisers and political parties," and diversion of
equipment and assets "to the Whittemore Peterson Institute, family,
friends and personal causes without consent."
The suit alleged Wingfield improperly paid the salaries of Whittemore
Peterson Institute personnel and that the institute used Wingfield
aircraft for flights valued at more than $346,000, but hasn't paid
Wingfield for these flights. In addition, a public relations company
working for Wingfield also did work for Whittemore Peterson Institute
and the Whittemores' personal family foundation - with Wingfield
picking up the tab, the suit said.
The Whittemores last week denied the lawsuit allegations and on
Wednesday, their attorney hit back with a federal lawsuit accusing the
Seeno brothers, plus a son of Albert Seeno Jr., of racketeering and
using threats of violence to coerce the Whittemores into turning over
assets to the Seenos. The Whittemores' attorneys at the law firm Bowen
Hall in Reno told a much different story than what the Seenos had said
in their lawsuit. "The Seenos are billionaire developers from Northern
California who have been accused of having organized crime connections
as well a close relationship with the California motorcycle gang known
as the Hell's Angels. For over a full year now, the Whittemores have
been living under the threat of death, serious bodily injury and/or
criminal and civil prosecution because of actions threatened by the
Seenos," the suit says.
In Harvey Whittemore's version of the dispute, the Wingfield company -
named for a community in Sparks - was worth $500 million to $1 billion
prior to the disputes erupting between the Whittemores and the two
wealthy Seeno brothers who had bought into the business. Besides
Coyote Springs, Wingfield included other real estate developments and
several small businesses.
While the Seenos claim Whittemore had embezzled from their company,
Whittemore said in Wednesday's lawsuit that Wingfield actually owes
him about $30 million. The Whittemore suit said Albert Seeno Jr.,
after becoming disgruntled with his investment in Wingfield, started
falsely accusing Harvey Whittemore of embezzlement, fraud and other
criminal activity.
"Albert Seeno Jr. threatened to go to the FBI with information that he
alleged he had regarding these alleged improprieties; that he would
personally bring down every member of the political 'machine' in
Nevada including references to U.S. senators," the suit says. "In the
course of this threat, he asked whether Mr. Whittemore believed in
God; whether Mr. Whittemore went to church; and said that Mr.
Whittemore should gather his flock on Sunday and pray," the suit says.
"At the conclusion of these threats, he reminded Mr. Whittemore of the
threats he had made about murdering his own brother, Thomas Seeno,
with his own bare hands and then threatened Mr. Whittemore's life and
the lives of his entire family if he did not do as he was expressly
instructed by Albert Seeno Jr.," the suit said, adding this happened
in August 2010 and Whittemore reported this alleged threat to police.
The suit also says Whittemore had borrowed about $20 million from
Thomas Seeno and that the Seenos then used this debt to coerce
Whittemore to turn over assets to the Seenos and to remove the
Whittemores from Wingfield. The suit claims Thomas and Albert Seeno
Jr. and Seeno Jr.'s son Albert Seeno III had conspired to defraud
Whittemore of his interest in Wingfield and reiterates allegations
that the two Albert Seenos threatened to kill Whittemore and his
family if he didn't follow their instructions. "This is a case
involving racketeering and extortion based on threats of death and
severe bodily harm made by Albert Seeno Jr. and Albert Seeno III,
against attorney and businessman Harvey Whittemore and his family,"
Wednesday's lawsuit says. "The Whittemores, operating under these
threats of criminal prosecution, death and serious bodily injury,
commenced transferring assets to Wingfield and to defendant Tom Seeno,
in payment of his lawfully incurred debt to Tom Seeno," the suit says.
"The Seenos have directed their employees to the Whittemores' homes to
intimidate them and force them to give up assets, including jewelry,
art and automobiles under the continued threat of bodily injury."
In other extraordinary allegations, the suit says:
* A "large, very ominous and burly man" named "Ray" required Harvey
Whittemore to open a safe in his home and that the man then took
jewelry and cash.
* The Seenos had a Wingfield employee break into a Whittemore home in
Las Vegas and remove certain computer equipment. The suit claims
"Albert Seeno III orchestrated this robbery and remained in a car
outside the residence while the theft was in process."
The suit includes allegations that "Albert Seeno Jr. and Albert Seeno
III are associated with organized crime networks, have associated with
and are associating with known felons and are currently, along with
Doe (unnamed) defendants, under investigation by the FBI and IRS, and
were raided by agents of the FBI, IRS and the Secret Service."
In yet another startling allegation, the Whittemore suit claims the
Seenos are now trying to "intentionally devalue the assets of
Wingfield or claim fraud by the Whittemores, especially at the Coyote
Springs development, so that they can improperly claim tax benefits to
the IRS and receive huge tax write-offs in the hundreds of millions of
dollars to be offset by gains in other Seeno companies."
The Whittemore suit also said Thomas Seeno and Albert Seeno Jr. own
and operate several Nevada casinos, including the Peppermill Resort
and Casino in Reno, the Rainbow Club in Henderson and Western Village
Casino in Sparks - an indication state gaming regulators will be
paying close attention to any allegations of wrongdoing in the suits.
The Seenos' attorneys haven't yet responded to Wednesday's lawsuit.
When they do, there's likely to be yet another round of mudslinging in
a case that's just warming up.
The Whittemore Peterson Institute, in the meantime, in recent months
has been dealing with its own controversies related to what critics
called its flawed study linking chronic fatigue syndrome to a certain
virus. Other researchers have been unable to replicate the findings of
the study, causing the journal Science to retract it in December.
--------
(c) 2012 Vegas Inc.
---------------------------------------------
Send posts to CO-CURE@listserv.nodak.edu
Unsubscribe at http://www.co-cure.org/unsub.htm
Too much mail? Try a digest version. See http://www.co-cure.org/digest.htm
---------------------------------------------
Co-Cure's purpose is to provide information from across the spectrum of
opinion concerning medical, research and political aspects of ME/CFS and/or
FMS. We take no position on the validity of any specific scientific or
political opinion expressed in Co-Cure posts, and we urge readers to
research the various opinions available before assuming any one
interpretation is definitive. The Co-Cure website <www.co-cure.org> has a
link to our complete archive of posts as well as articles of central
importance to the issues of our community.
---------------------------------------------
