Binion may have violated campaign-finance law

Cy Ryan and Jeff German

Wednesday, Aug. 4, 1999 | 11:02 a.m.

On the day before he died, gaming figure Ted Binion may have violated Nevada's campaign finance law when he gave a $40,000 donation to former Las Vegas Mayor Jan Laverty Jones in her unsuccessful run for governor.

In March Jones told homicide detectives investigating Binion's slaying that she received $40,000 in cash from the former casino executive during a visit to his home on Sept. 16.

She said Tuesday that Binion told her $10,000 of the donation was from his girlfriend, Sandy Murphy, now charged in his Sept. 17 murder.

That same day, court records show, Binion telephoned his lawyer, James J. Brown, and instructed him to cut Murphy out of his will. He also hired a private detective to follow Murphy, whom he suspected was cheating on him.

Jones said Binion told her that his children, Bonnie and Damien, also each were contributing $10,000 to her campaign. That left $10,000 in Binion's name in accordance with Nevada law, which puts a $10,000 cap on individual campaign contributions.

State law, however, also prohibits an individual from making a contribution in the name of another person, which Binion appeared to do during his meeting with Jones.

Jones, who retired as mayor in May, said Binion did nothing differently than Circus Circus Enterprises, which gathered $300,000 in contributions for her Republican opponent, Kenny Guinn, who went on to win the governor's race. No questions were raised about those donations, she said.

In her campaign finance report, Jones listed receiving the Binion contributions, including those from Murphy and his children, on Sept. 25, or eight days after Binion's death. She said that may have been the date she turned over the money to her finance committee chairman.

The report disclosed three contributions from Binion personally totaling $10,000. They were for $500, $1,000 and $8,500. One of the donations was listed as a check.

This week, the Sun reported that Binion obtained the $40,000 he gave to Jones through Kevin Page, senior portfolio manager in the investment division of the First Security Bank of Nevada.

Page told private detective Tom Dillard last year that Binion wrote him a $40,000 check on Sept. 15 when he visited his 2408 Palomino Lane home to open a $1 million investment account.

The banker said he cashed the check and returned to Binion's home later that day with $100 bills divided into $20,000 packages wrapped in plastic.

Jones told homicide detectives the cash she received came in First Security Bank bag.

The Secretary of State's office, which oversees the campaign finance law, said it has not launched an investigation into the Binion contributions because no complaint has been filed.

But the office supplied a copy of the law that prohibits laundering of campaign contributions.

The law says, "A person shall not: make a contribution in the name of another person ..."

It adds that it is illegal to give money and then claim the funds belong to another person. And it's also illegal to accept a contribution made by a person in the name of another person.

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