El Rancho figure accused of diverting funds to casino ship

Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2000 | 10:48 a.m.

Penny stock swindler Robert E. Brennan secretly invested at least $12 million in the Palm Beach Princess, a casino ship, the Securities and Exchange Commission alleges.

The investment allegedly was made while creditors of the bankrupt businessman, including the SEC, were scouring the globe for millions of dollars he is alleged to have hidden.

The Star-Ledger newspaper in Newark, N.J., reported a federal judge last week issued a temporary restraining order blocking the casino ship's owner from relocating the vessel from its port in Florida to a new port in Brazil.

The SEC apparently sought the restraining order because the ship may be a Brennan asset it may want to seize in order to settle a $75 million civil judgment it won against in Brennan in 1995 for penny stock frauds committed through his firm First Jersey Securities.

Another Brennan firm, International Thoroughbred Breeders Inc., once owned the Las Vegas Strip's El Rancho hotel-casino, which was imploded today.

Besides his legal troubles with the SEC, Brennan is accused of bankruptcy fraud for allegedly concealing $500,000 in Mirage casino chips from creditors.

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