Elvis Presley performing at the then-International Hotel, now the Westgate, straight back in 1969. His estate happens to be suing the casino to save priceless memorabilia, which it says is being held hostage in a legal dispute.
The Elvis Presley estate is suing the former Overseas Hotel, now the Westgate, an off-strip resort and casino where the popular performer played 100s of sold out shows, which it claims is keeping many for the King’s treasured personal possessions hostage.
While Elvis was historically renowned for summarily ‘leaving the building’ after nonstop applause and calls for encores back in his performance days, his memorabilia is currently very much stuck inside the building at the Westgate.
The estate filed a lawsuit Monday in Clark County District Court in a bid to recover the precious artifacts lent to the Westgate casino last year in what could be called a ‘Heartbreak Hotel’ moment.
Included in these are many of Elvis’ original stage outfits, their famously jewelry that is ostentatious and some letters, because well since the TV remote from their Graceland mansion. These items all were an element of the much-feted, yet ill-fated, ‘Graceland Presents Elvis’ attraction, launched during the Westgate last April.
Viva Las Vegas
The Westgate may not be the best-known of Las Vegas’ casino resorts these days, nonetheless it has a history that is big Sin City.
Built by Las Vegas pioneer Kirk Kerkorian as the International resort in 1969, when construction was completed, it was the hotel that is biggest in the world at the time.
Elvis, riding high on his late-1960s comeback, immediately finalized an agreement with Kerkorian, and performed 58 consecutive sold-out shows at the International, breaking all vegas attendance documents. Over the following seven years, he played there very nearly 600 times and also lived in the Penthouse on the floor that is 30th he ended up being performing there.
In reality, the casino to his contract, written on a tablecloth (apparently without any solicitors around), is one of the impounded items and is now considered worth $1 million.
Last year, eager to capitalize on its pop-culture heritage, the Westgate teamed up with a company called Exhibit A Circle on that Graceland Presents Elvis project.
Avoid Being Cruel
On April 24, the 59th anniversary of Elvis’ first-ever Las Vegas performance, former wife Priscilla and just child Lisa Marie cut the blue suede ribbon to declare the event open, while the Elvis Show, a complete recreation of the King’s International concerts, played every night for the opening week.
The Westgate spent millions of dollars renovating its theater therefore that it became an exact reproduction of its 1970’s self, too as plowing money in to the event space. The casino even created a new elvis-themed wedding chapel in preparation for an event which was contractually obliged to endure a decade, at a minimum.
But then show A Circle actually didleave the building, really literal and, according to Westgate, contractually violating sense.
While Exhibit A Circle has offered no official reason for quitting, the suspicious minds at Westgate believe the exhibition business has defaulted on its 10-year lease and launched legal action of unique.
But Elvis Presley Enterprises Inc. has accused Westgate of ‘aggressively seizing the valuables with no basis that is legitimate as a way to gain leverage in its case against Exhibit A Circle.
Were Elvis still surviving in the penthouse, we suspect he might have popped a cap into his tv about all this. But as it’s, wise men say that after it comes to lawsuits, only attorneys end up being winners.
Donald Trump Denies Knowing Mobster, Could Alleged Connections Affect Tuesday Florida Main Results?
Donald Trump has made this debate and season that is primary of the most watchable ever. Whether you love, hate, or feel indifferent to the businessman billionaire and GOP frontrunner, you cannot say he is dull to watch.
Did Donald Trump know a reported associate of New Jersey mob boss John Gotti (pictured right here)? (Image: dailymail.co.uk)
Now, using the all-important winner-takes-all-delegates Florida main looming next Tuesday and the force on the Donald to trounce opponent and Sunshine State senator Marco Rubio, every skeleton in Trump’s cabinet is being released.
And the one that’s emerged this week involved his alleged involvement with a reported associate of John Gotti, a prominent nj-new jersey mobster, straight back in the early 1990s.
The reputed crime boss died in jail from throat cancer in 2002 at the age of 61, but Trump’s alleged six-degrees connections to your infamous Mafioso might be a point that is sticking the prospect.
Mob Connections Alleged
Returning to 1991, Atlantic City’s Trump Plaza was fined $650,000 by nj-new Jersey regulators for allegedly courting a foul-mouthed, racist mobster with links to Gotti, according to a recent report by Yahoo journalist Michael Isikoff.
Donald Trump was forced to deny this week which he knew Robert LiButti, a roller that is high the Plaza who reportedly demanded that black colored and female casino employees not be permitted to deal at his games. LiButti was eventually barred from all Atlantic City casinos for their Mob connections, plus in 1994 was imprisoned for five years for tax fraud.
The revelations came to light via Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) documents recently obtained by Yahoo under the brand new Jersey Open Public Records Act.
Those reports expose that the gangster frequently berated women and ethnic minorities using ‘the vilest language,’ based on one official, and ordered them to be removed from his sight while he had been during the casino.
Meanwhile, in return for their patronage, claims the report, the Trump Plaza showered LiButti with gifts, including at the very least nine luxury vehicles, worth $1.6 million; $279,978 in event tickets; five European vacations; $121,712 of jewelry, and $40,020 in champagne.
The casino was fined $200,000 for racial discrimination and a further $450,000 for the gifts. During the time, New Jersey laws barred cash comps for high rollers.
‘During the years we extremely successfully ran the casino company, I knew many rollers that are high’ Trump told Yahoo. ‘we assume Mr. LiButti was one of them, but I do not recognize the title.’
Many sources suggest that Trump’s assertion is unlikely, not least LiButti’s daughter, Edith Creamer.
‘Lose the Broad’
‘Of course he knew him. We flew in the [Trump] helicopter with Ivana [Trump’s ex-wife] and the kids. My dad flew it up and down,’ Creamer told Isikoff.
‘ My birthday that is 35th party at the Plaza and Donald had been there. After the ongoing celebration, we went on his boat, his big yacht. I like Trump,’ she added, ‘but it p*sses me personally off which he denies knowing my father. That hurts me.’
According to the Yahoo story, in 1990 Plaza that is former executive Tracy consented to put on a wire in conversions with LiButti, during the behest of police.
In a transcript regarding the conversation that is ensuing LiButti states, ‘I’m very near with him [Trump],’ but told Tracy that Trump needed to ‘lose the broad,’ talking about Maria Maples, who Donald later married.
‘He’s lost that aggressiveness’ said LiButti. ‘Walks around like a f***ing banana. I can’t think it’s Donald Trump. I actually don’t realize it.’
LiButti died in 2011, round the time Trump had been first making noises about running for president.
‘I’m going to vote for that SOB,’ he apparently told his daughter before he passed.
JPMorgan Gambling Addict Broker Gets Simply 5 Years for $22 Million Embezzlement
Former JPMorgan Chase broker Michael Oppenheim, who spent over $22 million of his clients’ money chasing their gambling losses, was sentenced to just five years in jail with a US District Judge this week.
Michael Oppenheim, former broker for JPMorgan, whom stole over $22 million from clients because of his gambling addiction, received a relatively light sentence this week in federal court. (Image: Reuters/Brendan McDermid)
Judge Analisa Torres went easy on the defendant in the light of his obvious remorse and determination to fight his gambling addiction, that was exacerbated tragamonedas golden goddes slots by the birth of a daughter that is disabled the court heard.
‘I am cognizant that gambling is a mental disorder which is aggravated during durations of stress and despair,’ stated Torres, in rejecting the ten-year sentence requested by the prosecution.
‘I recognize that what I did was terrible,’ Oppenheim said prior to sentencing. ‘we always thought I was one or two trades away from fixing everything. For me personally, one bet is one a lot of. If We had been not in the grips with this addiction, i’d not have taken any money.’
He claimed their brain had been ‘hijacked’ by gambling addiction.
Hide and Seek
Oppenheim, who at one point managed 500 clients and had access to almost $90 million in funds, pled guilty last November to four counts of wire fraudulence, and another count every one of embezzlement, securities fraud, and investment adviser fraudulence.
The court heard that he had covered up the embezzlement by doctoring his customers’ account statements as he moved funds from one account to another, playing ‘hide and seek’ with customers’ money, in line with the FBI.
Oppenheim’s lawyers stated he began betting on NFL games dating back to 1993. After losing a six-figure amount, he began to steal from consumers to cover his mounting losings. Ultimately, he moved on to options trading, where he once lost $2.7 million in mere one day, in an effort that is high-risk break even.
‘Judge, i’m ashamed of my conduct,’ he said during trial. ‘I wish I might have now been caught sooner.’
New York Federal Reserve Deflects Responsibility for $100 Million Cyber Heist, But Were Casinos Cash Launderers?
The New York Federal Reserve says it had been involved in no wrongdoing in what appears to be an effective $100 million cyber heist month that is last.
Good as silver: Although thieves never even stepped base in this new York Federal Reserve building in Manhattan, they managed to steal $100 million via cyber SWIFT codes before allegedly laundering it through three Filipino casinos. (Image: untappedcities.com)
On 5, hackers looted the Central Bank of Bangladesh’s Federal Reserve Account, stored in Manhattan, by scheduling a $100 million wire transfer through the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications network (SWIFT) february.
Just What happened depends that are next who you believe.
The general understanding, however, is that the funds were promptly delivered from the Federal Reserve to Philippines bank Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC), after which distributed by way of a black market currency exchange broker, before being laundered internationally through at least three casinos.
Ny Federal Reserve boss William Dudley said no compromise ended up being experienced on their end, and that the obligation needs to be placed on SWIFT.
‘The payment instructions were fully authenticated by the SWIFT messaging system in accordance with standard authentication protocols,’ Dudley spokeswoman Andrea Priest said in a press launch.
Bangladesh authorities argue otherwise. ‘ We kept money with the Federal Reserve Bank and irregularities must be with the social people who handle the funds here,’ Bangladesh Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith explained to Bloomberg Information.
Swift Action
Muhith told reporters on Tuesday that his nation will take legal action to recoup the stolen funds, but didn’t get so far as to threaten an actual lawsuit from the NY branch (there are 12 in all) of the American banking system that is federal. Now more than a thirty days since the alleged theft, with no celebration has yet taken the blame, to nobody’s shock provided the potential legal repercussions.
Belgian-based SWIFT said it would not comment on specific cases, but did say that it authenticates ‘between delivering and institutions that are receiving before approving any transaction.
RCBC has additionally denied involvement, saying that it doesn’t work with gambling enterprises. The bank did confirm an $81 million deposit had been completed through one of its branches and that its investigations division is probing the transfer.
Back the US, the Fed says it’s dealing with the Bangladesh Central Bank, but retains its position that there is no proof the country’s account was breached.
The Federal Reserve in Manhattan provides banking accounts and transaction services for some 250 foreign countries. Bangladesh’s foreign currency reserve balance is currently around $27 billion.
More Safeguards Needed
While a $100 million transfer at your local community bank would certainly raise a great amount of eyebrows, it probably didn’t cause suspicion that is much the NY Federal Reserve, where more than $2.6 trillion in assets is ( allowed to be) safeguarded.
Assuming the Bangladesh heist was indeed performed by criminals and not an inside job, the robbery should emphasize the continued need certainly to create more advanced cyber safeguards. The biggest Federal Reserve in the usa being so easily compromised is certainly reason behind much concern for just about everyone.
In reality, other federal organizations are taking proactive measures to better defend their operations online. Early in the day this month, the Pentagon invited vetted hackers to test and infiltrate its network that is private and websites.
‘Hack the Pentagon’ is a bounty competition where approved hackers are rewarded for infiltrating and areas that are exposing to intrusion.
‘I am confident that this innovative initiative will strengthen our digital defenses and ultimately enhance our national security,’ US Defense Secretary Ash Carter said associated with the certainly unusual, but apparently much-needed, program.