IRS joins Binion probe

Thursday, Dec. 2, 1999 | 11:18 a.m.

The IRS is investigating whether a California man who bailed out a defendant charged with crimes related to Ted Binion's slaying may have laundered cash buried by the gambling figure in Nevada.

The man, Ronald R. White, posted the $100,000 bail for John B. Joseph following his June 25 arrest in Southern California. Joseph is charged with Binion's accused killers, Sandy Murphy and Rick Tabish, in a July 28, 1998, scheme to torture a Las Vegas businessman two months before Binion's death.

Chief Deputy District Attorney David Roger, the lead prosecutor in the Binion murder case, filed papers in District Court late Wednesday disclosing the IRS money-laundering investigation, which is being conducted in Southern California.

It is the first time evidence has surfaced to link someone to items that may have been stolen from Binion after his Sept. 17, 1998, slaying. Roger is cooperating with IRS agents, who on Nov. 5 seized $108,000 from two of White's Tustin, Calif., bank accounts.

The probe began after tellers reported suspicious deposits White was making at Sunwest Bank in Tustin beginning on June 24, the day Murphy and Tabish were arrested and charged in Binion's death in Las Vegas.

White, according to an affidavit by IRS Agent Aimee Schabilion, made a series of $9,000 bank deposits of what the tellers described as "'musty and mildewy" $100 and $50 bills for several weeks after the arrests.

The bank wasn't obligated to inform the IRS about the deposits because the transactions were under the $10,000 disclosure guideline. The bank, however, decided to report the activity.

"I personally smelled the majority of the cash deposits within hours to days after the deposits," Schabilion wrote in a copy of her 15-page affidavit obtained by the Sun. "And I agree that these bills have an unusual smell and appearance, as though they had been buried in a moist area and uncirculated for a great deal of time."

Schabilion, who works in the Criminal Investigation Division of the IRS in Southern California, said Roger told her Binion once testified in his divorce proceedings that he had buried $2 million near a tree on his property during the savings and loan crisis.

The IRS agent also said Roger told her Binion's ex-wife, Doris, had indicated Binion kept as much as $1 million in cash at his Las Vegas home and buried valuables in his yard and at his 125-acre ranch in Pahrump.

The Sun has previously reported that Binion's secretary, Cathy Rose told investigators Murphy telephoned her nine days after Binion's death to inform her that there were items of value buried under a tree at Binion's 125-acre ranch in Pahrump. Murphy offered to split the proceeds with Binion's brother, Jack Binion.

About the same time, according to Schabilion, Henry Ford, a Binion neighbor in Pahrump, reported that he saw a back hoe being operated at the far end of Binion's ranch and later saw a man and woman dressed in camouflage clothing walking in the area.

Prior to the start of Murphy's preliminary hearing in August, intruders dug two fresh holes in an orchard at Binion's ranch near the site where the casino man was supposed to have buried cash or valuables. Nye County sheriff's deputies are investigating the incident.

At a bail hearing for Joseph this morning, Roger told District Judge Joseph Bonaventure that investigators didn't know for sure whether the "smelly" money belonged to Binion.

But he added: 'It's certainly curious when you have these old wet bills turn up."

Roger said the IRS investigation also has targeted Joseph.

White and Joseph, business partners for 20 years, had purchased Sunwest Bank in 1985, but both ended up resigning from its board in the past year. The 60-year-old Joseph, who lives in Orange County, is charged with Murphy and Tabish, and one other man, Steven Wadkins, in an alleged plot to kidnap and torture businessman Leo Casey into turning over his interests in a Jean sand pit. Joseph and Tabish were business partners in the pit.

At today's hearing, Joseph's lawyer, Stan Hunterton, described the IRS agent's affidavit as being at the "speculative stage."

Hunterton asked Bonaventure to reduce Joseph's $100,000 bail to $50,000, but Roger opposed the reduction.

Roger persuaded Bonaventure to hold a hearing next Friday to determine the source of Joseph's bail. Roger wants to find out if any of the money is related to any of Binion's missing assets.

In her affidavit, Schabilion said White told a bank teller when making the $9,000 June 24 deposit that he had won the cash playing craps in Las Vegas.

White explained to a teller that the money smelled because it had been in his gym bag, the IRS agent wrote.

"One teller told me that the money smelled and looked as though it had been in a cave," Schabilion said. "The teller also noted that all of the deposits had the same smell and appearance, like (they) came from one place."

The deposits, Schabilion said, were put into two youth ice hockey accounts opened by White.