Courthouse News Service: The operator of the Las Vegas Mob Experience "looted" the company of more than $658,000, the new owner claims in Clark County Court.Plaintiff Vion Operations says it bought the exhibit's "future receipts" for $4 million in February this year, relying on bogus claims from the exhibit's former manager, lead defendant Jay Bloom. Vion claims Bloom grossly overstated the anticipated attendance, concealed $8 million in debt and miscalculated ticket prices.
Bloom stepped down on July 5, only 4 months after the attraction at the Tropicana Hotel and Casino opened. The Mob Experience is a separate entity from the city-sponsored Mob Museum, which is slated to open sometime this year in downtown Las Vegas.
According to Vion's lawsuit, Bloom disclosed $8 million in debt, but Vion says the actual debt is now $16 million. Vion claims that Bloom failed to pay payroll taxes, and failed to pay contractors and electricians $2 million, saddling the new owner with $6.4 million in construction liens for lack of payment.
Bloom diverted more than $658,000 from the museum since 2009 and spent it on personal expenses such as car payments, credit card bills, cable TV, utilities, pool cleaning, maid service, groceries, and so on, "using categories in his own records such as 'cash for Jay,' and 'to be accounted for later,'" according to the complaint.
Now the museum "cannot operate and it cannot pay its existing debts without additional financing," Vion says.
Also named as defendants are Bloom's wife, Carolyn Farkas; Eagle Group Holdings; Eagle Group Marketing; ADD Productions; and Order 66 Entertainment.
Vion and co-plaintiff Strategic Funding Source seek damages for fraud.
Vion is represented by Todd Touton with Lionel Sawyer & Collins.
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