Ormsby House sale could face legal battle

Friday, Sept. 17, 1999 | 2:01 a.m.

Partners at Carson City-based Cubix Corp. announced Wednesday they opened escrow to buy the resort. But Dr. Vincent Malfitano of Antioch, Calif., said Thursday he was within a week or so of closing escrow on the Ormsby House.

"There's some wild stuff going on," said Malfitano, a cosmetic dentist and owner of Skyline Crest Co., which was jockeying to buy the troubled casino.

Malfitano, Cubix partners Al Fiegehen and Don Lehr, and Riverside, Calif., developer Tom Day have all been named as interested in buying the Ormsby House since a June 6 auction that netted no acceptable bids.

Malfitano and the Cubix partners both say they have opened escrow with Cerberus Partners, which has owned the Ormsby House since buying it in a January 1998 foreclosure sale. Cerberus representative Kevin Genda referred calls regarding the Ormsby House to Bob Cashell, the hotel-casino's general manager.

"I've had open escrow since July 26 and a contract with Cerberus since that day," Malfitano said. "What I don't want to do is engage in a legal battle. (But) I don't intend to let Genda sell it from under me."

Malfitano said he's willing to drop the matter if the Cubix offer was higher than his. But he added that if Cubix offered less "Cerberus will have legal issues to deal with."

Cashell said he was unaware of Malfitano's status with Cerberus.

"I don't know what he signed," Cashell said. "He never shared any of that with me. He never asked me for an inventory. I never saw a signed copy of the contract."