Rogich sues client for payment

Bill Gang and Ed Koch

Wednesday, Sept. 22, 1999 | 11:43 a.m.

The company that Las Vegas power broker Sig Rogich was pushing to build a golf course and Formula 1 racetrack complex on public land at the south end of the Strip has been sued -- by Rogich.

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday against US/GP-LV partnership and its owners, John Rosart and Thomas E. Baker, alleges that Rogich is still owed more than $46,000 for the work his Rogich Communications Group did on behalf of the project.

While Andre Agassi also was seeking the county contract to build a tennis complex and golf course, the County Commission finally awarded the deal last year to veteran golf course developer Billy Walters, who had bid to build just a golf course.

Work on the project has not yet begun, in part because county officials are planning a Russell Road interchange at Interstate-15 to create access to nearby Frank Sinatra Road. Depending on the final configuration, part of the planned golf course may have to be taken for the interchange, a county official said.

Rogich's lawsuit, filed through attorney Peter Bernhard, alleges that Rosart and Baker failed to follow through with their promise to pay Rogich $10,000 a month for his liaison work and "image management."

The pair maintained that they had $60 million for the Strip project, but the lawsuit contends "these financial representations were, in fact, false."

The lawsuit, which seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages, alleges breach of contract, fraud and misrepresentation.

Walters plans to build a 27-hole public golf course complex on the 155-acre site on the southwest corner of the Strip and Russell Road across from McCarran International Airport.

The selection of Walters in September 1998 capped a controversial, year-long series of delays by the commission.

Only three of the seven commissioners -- then-chairwoman Yvonne Atkinson Gates, Myrna Williams and Erin Kenny -- selected the Walters proposal. The other four commissioners abstained for various reasons, including conflicts of interest with the competing developers.

The development is expected to cost $33 million, excluding a water re-use facility that could add $10 million in costs.

The contract with Walters is a 50-year agreement, with the county earning an estimated $116 million in revenues from years 11 to 50 of the pact.