Brothel owner Conforte indicted on fraud charges

Thursday, June 20, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

Conforte, the long-time owner of the Mustang Ranch, is charged with three counts of bankruptcy fraud and one count of wire fraud.

His lawyer, Peter Perry, faces one count each of bankruptcy and wire fraud.

A federal grand jury handed up the indictment on Nov. 1, but it remained sealed until late last week.

Perry pleaded innocent to the charges on Friday and an Aug. 12 trial date was set by U.S. District Judge Howard McKibben. Conforte's whereabouts are unknown. Perry was released on his own recognizance.

The indictment charges Conforte and Perry with devising a scheme to defraud the Internal Revenue Service while the agency sought to seize the bordello through bankruptcy proceedings for taxes in 1990.

The Mustang Ranch was sold at an IRS auction in November of that year to a company called Mustang Properties. Peter Perry's brother, Victor Perry, submitted the winning bid at $1.49 million.

Peter Perry was listed as a company officer.

According to the indictment, Conforte opened a Swiss account at Discount Bank and Trust in Geneva in 1982 under the name of Jose C. Montoya.

It alleged that on Aug. 14, 1990, $800,000 was transferred from that account to Mustang Properties, and another $1 million was transferred on Nov. 30, 1990.

After the sale, Conforte continued to manage the Mustang Ranch until August 1991, when he said he was retiring. He disappeared from the public scene and did not attend the 1992 funeral of his wife, Sally.

The following February, Peter Perry said the brothel had been sold to a company called AGE Enterprises.