State probes Mirage-Trump P.I.

David Strow

Thursday, July 29, 1999 | 11:16 a.m.

Louis "Curt" Rodriguez, the private investigator who said he funneled secret Mirage Resorts Inc. documents to archrival Trump Hotel & Casino Resorts, is now under investigation by Nevada regulators.

The investigation revolves around Rodriguez's contract to perform investigation work for Mirage in connection with the Trump case. According to the Nevada Private Investigators Licensing Board, Rodriguez is not licensed to perform investigations work in Nevada and has been warned in the past to halt investigation activity in the state.

"We first got a complaint on him in 1997," said Carol Hanna, executive director of the Nevada Private Investigators Licensing Board. "We explained to him about licensing procedures and sent him a cease and desist letter. Now we understand he is possibly doing investigation in the state of Nevada, so there's an investigation going.

"We'll have to wait to see how this pans out."

Rodriguez deferred comment to his attorney, Louis Garfinkel, who declined to comment.

Documents filed in federal court say Rodriguez signed a one-year consulting agreement with Mirage in April. He was asked to provide investigation services in support of Mirage's lawsuit against Trump and former employees Laura Choi and Paul Liu.

As a condition of the consulting agreement, Steve Wynn's Mirage agreed not to execute on any judgment it may receive against Rodriguez, who was named by Mirage as a defendant in the lawsuit. It said it will revoke this agreement if it finds Rodriguez provided the company with untruthful information, but made it clear that he isn't required to slant his testimony in favor of Mirage because of the contract.

Rodriguez said he was hired by Donald Trump's Trump Hotel & Casino Resorts to acquire confidential Mirage information for Trump. He testified that Choi gave him confidential lists of Mirage's Asian high-rollers, which he said he provided to one of Trump's New York investigators.

The documents did not specify whether Rodriguez would be conducting his work in Nevada, New Jersey or California, where several defendants live. Nevada regulations make it clear that he can't perform any work on the case in this state, Hanna said -- even to the point where he can't make phone calls from a Las Vegas telephone. Rodriguez is the owner of Las Vegas-based Empire Pacific Group.

"To do contract work, you need to be licensed," Hanna said. "We do have statutes in place that allow us to issue citations for unlicensed activity."

Mirage spokesman Alan Feldman was traveling and could not be reached for comment.

Meanwhile, Choi plans to hold a news conference today to answer allegations made against her by Mirage.

Mirage accused Choi of providing confidential information to Trump, as well as embezzling funds she collected from Mirage patrons in South Korea. Choi responded with a countersuit alleging wrongful termination and defamation.

Choi was arrested in South Korea in August 1997 for collecting gaming debts, a violation of South Korean law. She was sentenced to one year in prison and fined more than $500,000. She was released less than three months later, and was fired by Mirage shortly afterwards.

Mirage alleged Choi was acting on her own when she went to collect the debts, and ignored warnings that her activities were in violation of Korean law. Choi countered that she was ordered to make the trip, and was told she was fired if she did not go.

Gregory Smith, Choi's Los Angeles-based attorney, will provide documents he says prove that Choi is innocent of all charges made by Mirage.

"These documents also reveal that high-placed Mirage executives not only had full knowledge of Ms. Choi's activities, but ordered her to perform these collections," a news release from Smith's firm states.