Venetian fires at LVCVA with latest lawsuit

Monday, Jan. 10, 2000 | 11:43 a.m.

Sheldon Adelson's Venetian hotel-casino sued Clark County and the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, claiming they violated the law when the LVCVA sold $150 million in bonds to finance an expansion of the Las Vegas Convention Center.

The Venetian and Adelson's adjacent Sands Expo Center compete with the Las Vegas Convention Center and Adelson says the expanded LVCVA center's financing package represents unfair tax-subsidized competition.

In a lawsuit filed Friday in Clark County District Court, the Venetian accused the LVCVA of violating Nevada's open-meeting law by privately briefing LVCVA board members in groups of two or more about its plan to sell the bonds in a negotiated sale as opposed to selling them using a competitive bidding process.

The hotel-casino also says the LVCVA failed to properly give notice to the public that its board on Nov. 9 planned to consider authorizing the negotiated sale of revenue bonds.

The Venetian also accused the LVCVA of failing to provide notice of a request for proposals to ensure a reasonable number of bond underwriters were notified of the business opportunity.

The Venetian seeks a court order voiding the negotiated sale of the bonds and either requiring the funds to be refunded to the bond holders or preventing the LVCVA from spending the proceeds of the bond sale.

The Venetian suit also claims the bonds at issue aren't "revenue bonds" because the LVCVA has no "net revenues." Rather, they are guaranteed by hotel room taxes and are therefore general obligation bonds that cannot be issued unless approved by the voters of Clark County, the Venetian suit says. These claims were rejected in a separate Venetian lawsuit last year.

Rob Powers, a spokesman for the LVCVA, said the agency does not comment on pending litigation and he had no statement on the Venetian's most recent suit.

LVCVA President Manny Cortez, in the meantime, said Friday the agency is still contemplating suing the Venetian in hopes of recovering costs caused by delays from the earlier, unsuccessful Venetian lawsuit challenging the LVCVA Convention Center financing plan.