Korean scandal haunts Mirage

David Strow

Thursday, May 20, 1999 | 1:32 a.m.

A former employee of Mirage Resorts Inc. sued the Las Vegas company, claiming it knowingly sent her to Korea to violate that country's currency laws, then abandoned her to Korea's justice system after her arrest.

Laura Choi asked for unspecified compensatory and punitive damages in the suit, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court. Her lawsuit came as a counterclaim to a lawsuit filed in April by Mirage against her, Trump Hotels and Casinos, and former Mirage executive Paul Liu. That suit accused Choi of providing lists of the Mirage's most valued Korean players to Trump. Mirage also accused her in the suit of converting more than $500,000 in company funds for personal use.

But Choi said much of those funds, in the form of more than a dozen checks, were confiscated by Korean authorities at the time of her arrest in Korea in July 1997. Choi said Mirage sent her to that country to collect outstanding gambling debts from a number of Korean players, a violation of Korean law, in "reckless disregard" for Choi. It is a violation of Korean law for foreign companies to collect gambling debts from Korean citizens.

Mirage was fined $350,000 by the Nevada Gaming Commission in August 1998 in connection with the Korean collection case, with Choi providing the most damaging testimony. The company admitted no wrongdoing.

The state's Gaming Board accused Bruce Aguilera, Mirage's top legal counsel, of lying to the board about Choi while it was investigating the Korean collection incidents. Aguilera told the board in January 1998 that he did not speak to Choi on a specific day, but a Metro police officer said he was with Choi at the time she placed a phone call to Aguilera. Aguilera later admitted that he had probably spoken with Choi on that date, but said he honestly couldn't remember the conversation. In August 1998, Aguilera was approved by the board as secretary and treasurer of Mirage's Bellagio resort in a split vote.

Choi was hired by Mirage as a marketing representative in 1997. Her job not only involved wooing Korean high rollers to the Mirage, but also collecting their debts, she claimed. Choi claimed the Mirage knew this activity could result in her arrest and imprisonment. She received base pay of $84,000 per year, and her contract ran through the end of 2000.

After her arrest, Choi said she asked Mirage to provide her with legal representation in South Korea, but that the company "abandoned her to the Korean justice system." She was sentenced to a year in prison. In October 1997, the sentence was suspended and Choi was released. Upon returning to the United States, Choi said she was terminated without written notice. She claims she still suffers from "serious emotional and medical problems" as a result of her arrest and subsequent discharge.

Choi's suit asks for damages for breach of contract, wrongful termination, indemnification, defamation and intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress.

Mirage spokesman Alan Feldman said he couldn't specifically comment on Choi's lawsuit, since he hadn't seen it.

"However, we're certain that the merits of our original suit are sound, and we intend to prove them in court," he said.

In her Tuesday filing, Choi denied being solicited by or providing the lists to Trump. In an earlier filing, Trump Hotels also denied the charges.