Creditors:
Casino Company Got Bad Deal
As reported by St. Louis Post-
Dispatch: "A tax audit, a DUI and some
charges on a credit card might be behind Columbia
Sussex Corp.'s failure to secure a Missouri
casino license, a group of companies claims
in a court motion.
"The
motion sheds light on what - or who - killed
the Kentucky company's plan to buy out of bankruptcy
the President Casino on the Admiral, which operates
on the Mississippi riverfront downtown.
"…The
motion was filed Thursday in Bankruptcy Court
in St. Louis by a committee of creditors of
the President Casino. It claims that Missouri
Gaming Commission staff planned to advise the
commission to deny Columbia Sussex a license
because of four red flags.
"-
An audit by the Internal Revenue Service on
the 2000 federal income tax return of Chairman
and Chief Executive William Yung.
"-
A 'driving under the influence type' conviction
of the son of a 20 percent owner of a Columbia
Sussex casino in Mississippi.
"-
Discrepancies surrounding Yung's residence.
He "has homes in both Kentucky and Florida
and has sometimes listed his residence being
in Kentucky and other times in Florida."
"-
Yung's practice of using his corporate charge
card to buy personal items.
"….Last
year, Columbia Sussex outbid Pinnacle Entertainment
Inc. in an auction for the President Casino.
Columbia Sussex, a privately held company that's
known mostly as a hotelier, planned to buy the
casino for $57 million and replace it with a
new boat a few blocks south on Laclede's Landing.
The negotiations with the city about the new
boat were thorny at times, but a compromise
was reached in September.
"Then,
in a surprise move last month, Columbia Sussex
backed away from the deal amid reports that
the Missouri Gaming Commission was about to
deny its application for a casino license…"
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