Date: February 6, 2012
Author: Ed Pearce <ed.pearce@kolotv.com>
URL: http://www.kolotv.com/home/headlines/Whittemore_Lawsuits_Read_Like_Fiction_138822494.html
Whittemore lawsuits read like fiction
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The legal battle between one of the state's most powerful lobbyists
and his business partners reads like a TV mini-series
RENO, NV - It reads like the script for a TV mini-series.
A legal battle between former partners, one of them a highly visible
political power broker, the other a family accused of unsavory
connections. Accusations of death threats and embezzlement. Characters
like an "ominous, burly" guy named Ray demanding someone open a safe
and taking the contents with him. It's just a lawsuit, but the paper
work, with over-the-top quotes and charges, reads like fiction.
The lawsuit pits Harvey Whittemore, long considered one of the state's
more powerful lobbyists, against northern California businessman
Albert Seeno Jr., his brother Tom and son, Albert III, partial owners
of Nevada gaming interests including the Peppermill Hotel Casino and
the Western Village. They all became partners in 2004 when Whittemore
sold the Seenos half interest in several companies which were combined
under the Wingfield Nevada Holding Group, developers of Wingfield
Springs and the Red Hawk Resort in Spanish Springs as well as a huge
planned community, Coyote Springs in southern Nevada. Fast forward a
few years, the economy has gone south and so has the partnership.
According to the Seeno's lawsuit, Whittemore had been using the
company for his own benefit, in their words "taking care of his
friends before his partners" The suit includes a long list of
allegations that Whittemore entertained friends and clients on the
company dime, charged the company for family homes, cars, withdrew
cash from the company safe and even charged his daughter's
$200-thousand dollar wedding at the Red Hawk Resort to the company
without the knowledge of the Seenos. The Seenos say Whittemore also
hosted fundraisers, even paid salaries to benefit the Whittemore
Peterson Institute at the University of Nevada Reno's Medical School
which specializes in research and treatment of chronic fatigue syndrome.
Things came to a head at a meeting in September of 2010 at the
Peppermill at which, the Seenos say, Whittemore admitted misusing
company funds and agreed to return property to pay the debt which they
say totaled tens of millions. Since then, they say, he's been
stalling. Thus, the lawsuit.
Whittemore answered with a lawsuit of his own, saying he and his
family were threatened at that meeting at the Peppermill and
afterward. Whittemore says Seeno told him when he was through
Whittemore would be "disbarred and behind bars," that he would bring
down anyone associated with Whittemore and at his funeral there would
be no one in attendance. Seeno's son is quoted as saying he would
"personally fly to Reno and break Whittemore's @&%!ing legs" if the
family didn't get their money back.
Whittemore says he did surrender some property and other items were
simply seized including his mother's Steinway piano and his wife's
jewelry taken one night when "an ominous, burly man named Ray" showed
up at his home, demanded he open his wife's safe and left with the
contents. Living under the Seeno's threats, Whittemore says has left
he and his wife distraught and unable to sleep.
His suit also takes some unrelated swipes at his former partners
noting they were fined more than $750,000 by Nevada gaming officials
for associating with convicted felons and that their company
headquarters in Concord, California was the target of an FBI and IRS
raid. Both sides allege the other owes them millions.
And there the dispute stands, but many in the Nevada political and
legal worlds, along with gaming and law enforcement and other
fascinated bystanders will no doubt be waiting for the next
installment. In the meantime, we've posted both lawsuits here on our
website. I judge them the most interesting legal documents since the
Governor Jim Gibbons vs. First Lady Dawn Gibbons divorce case.
- File-stamped Complaint.01-27-12
http://media.graytvinc.com/documents/File-stamped+Complaint.01-27-12.pdf
- File-stamped Complaint.U.S. Ct.02-01-12
http://media.graytvinc.com/documents/File-stamped+Complaint.U.S.+Ct.02-01-12.pdf
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(c) 2012 Gray Television, Inc.
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