Judge denies request to sell assets

Thursday, Nov. 6, 1997 | 10:48 a.m.

U.S. District Judge Lloyd George turned down a request Wednesday by the federal government to immediately begin selling the assets of a Las Vegas businessman to pay off debts related to a tax fraud conviction.

Lonnie Christensen last week was sentenced to nine years in prison and ordered to pay $8.4 million in fines and restitution.

U.S. Attorney Eric Lissan said Christensen has more than enough in assets to make the payments immediately.

Defense attorney Oscar Goodman retorted that prosecutors "are killing their own cow."

But Lissan said he is concerned that Christensen has been disposing of his assets and will continue to do so until there is not enough left to satisfy the court and Internal Revenue Service debts.

Furthermore, according to Lissan, before he was taken into custody at the conclusion of last week's sentencing hearing, Christensen was preparing to flee the country.

Lissan said because of the businessman's history of secreting his assets and income it is impossible to determine precisely how much money Christensen is worth.

"He has 24 known active accounts and is always switching money back and forth among them," noted Lissan.

The prosecutor said that even though George declined to expedite the payment of the fines and other costs by selling off some of Christensen's major assets, such as a $3 million home in Southern California occupied by a girlfriend, he was satisfied with the outcome of Wednesday's hearing.

"We're satisfied the court is doing everything it feels appropriate to collect the fines and cost," said Lissan.

He said the court "will keep a very watchful eye" on Lissan's assets while prosecutors decide whether to appoint a trustee to oversee the two businesses Christensen owned -- World Air Conditioning and M.J. Wood & Associates Inc.

Lissan said the two companies are still operating but he wants a trustee to determine if it is feasible to continue doing business and if not then to begin liquidation procedures.

Prosecutors argued during the sentencing hearing, which began in federal court Tuesday and ended Wednesday, that Christensen used tax fraud to lead a lavish lifestyle.

Christensen was found guilty of cheating the IRS and Nevada out of more than $3 million.

Lissan said Christensen perpetrated the biggest tax fraud in Nevada history and was one of the largest cases brought by the government against a private individual in the United States.

He was convicted of conspiring to defraud the federal government and six counts of filing false income tax returns for himself and his companies. Christensen also was found guilty of two counts of obstructing justice through the falsification and hiding of tax records and one count of wire fraud in connection with evasion of paying state sales and use taxes.

From 1972 to 1994, Christensen did not pay an estimated $1.4 million in state taxes, and from 1986 to 1990 he failed to pay $2.2 million in federal taxes.

Christensen took over M.J. Wood & Associates from his former father-in-law and became a sophisticated and excellent salesman, the government said. Although he did not have a college degree, Christensen had a tremendous understanding of the business world and used it to his advantage.

M.J. Wood & Associates and World Air Conditioning held contracts with A.G. Spanos Construction Inc., one of the nation's largest residential developers, and installed the heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems in the MGM Grand hotel-casino and the Spanish Trail subdivision.

Part of Christensen's defense during a three-week trial was that much of what the government alleged were unlawfully deducted personal expenses were actually business expenses used to entertain Alex Spanos, owner of the San Diego Chargers football team.

Goodman argued that his client was an honest businessman and was being targeted for his lifestyle, which, according to testimony, included supporting a wife and girlfriend.

Lissan identified the girlfriend as Julie Millenacker and told the court Christensen had given her $50,000 in cash and bought her a $100,000 car after his conviction.

He said Millenacker lives in the $3 million home in Southern California, where two Mercedes automobiles valued at $100,000 apiece are kept.

Millenacker was in the federal courtroom Wednesday with an attorney.

George told the attorney he needed to warn his client that she might be liable for the $50,000.

He warned that if anyone dissipated assets illegally, they would answer to the court.