More than three years later, (and four years after being awarded exclusivity to the Barstow territory) Detroit-based Barwest LLC has failed to deliver on any of the challenges the columnist raised; among them
- Barwest still has failed to deliver land into trust.
- Barwest has yet to make a full public disclosure of those who are actually bankrolling the Barstow plans.
- Barwest president Michael J. Malik, Sr., has yet to be granted a gaming license anywhere else.
http://archive.desertdispatch.com/2004/107970589870599.html
"...BarWest has had their exclusive agreement since last summer, yet little progress has been made. Despite their failure to deliver land into trust, investor Mike Malik has threatened to pull out completely if the city even entertains competing ideas.
No one has ever disclosed the complete list of investors that comprise BarWest, but we do know some of them. Malik spent a lot of money lobbying for the legalization of Indian gaming in Michigan. One of his partners, Larry Deitch, is a University of Michigan regent who authored the 1996 statute which gave birth to gaming in Michigan.
Mike Malik, along with investors Nellie Varner and Herb Strather, invested heavily in Detroit's MotorCity Casino. The Michigan Gaming Control Board determined that Malik, Varner, and Strather could not be granted gaming licenses to operate a casino. According to a Sept. 14, 1999 Las Vegas Review-Journal article ( "MotorCity Casino partners face questions from state regulators") Varner and Strather had problems with past real estate dealings, and investigators raised questions about Malik that were "related to federal tax matters."
If the aforementioned investors had decided to stay on board and appeal the decision, then the board could have disclosed their reasons for denial to the public, and if denied licenses they could have only sold their shares to recover their original investment. For their discretion Varner received $9.4 million, Strather cashed out to the tune of $18.4 million, and the amount of sale for Malik's shares according The Detroit News was not disclosed.
At the same time that Malik, Varner, and Strather sold their shares of the casino amid questions from the gaming control board, Larry Deitch also sold his shares in the casino. He made $2.35 million in an effort to prevent questions about conflict of interest since he was a public official with the University of Michigan. To be fair, this was Mr. Deitch's choice -- he was not compelled to do so.
No comments:
Post a Comment