Mirage executive files federal lawsuit

Thursday, Sept. 28, 2000 | 5:31 a.m.

A former Mirage Resorts casino executive has filed a federal lawsuit in Las Vegas that accuses her ex-employer of invading her privacy.

The complaint repeats many of the allegations raised in a lawsuit Laura Choi filed in March in Los Angeles Superior Court.

Choi was fired by Mirage Resorts after her July 1997 arrest in Seoul for attempting to collect more than $600,000 in gambling debts from South Koreans.

The Las Vegas gaming company was fined $350,000 in 1998 by the Nevada Gaming Control Board for violating South Korean currency laws, although the company never acknowledged any wrongdoing.

Choi contends she was fired by the company for cooperating with the control board's investigation. Mirage Resorts had contended that Choi was embezzling the money for personal use.

MGM Grand took over Mirage Resorts earlier this year. Alan Feldman, a spokesman for MGM Mirage, said he had not seen Choi's new lawsuit filed Tuesday and therefore would not comment on it.

According to the federal lawsuit, Choi met private investigator Curt Rodriguez in April 1998, when he falsely identified himself as a former U.S. law enforcement official who was working with the U.S. government and was investigating Mirage Resorts' practice of collecting gambling debts.

The complaint claims Rodriguez actually was gathering information on behalf of Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts.

By November 1998, Rodriguez had switched sides to work for Mirage Resorts, the lawsuit alleges, serving as a "double agent" against Choi and Trump.

According to Choi's lawsuit, Rodriguez's activities "were sanctioned and conducted at the direction of Tom Sheer, a Mirage Resorts senior vice president, and Mirage Resorts corporate security manager Eugene Harding, both former FBI agents.

The lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages, names Mirage Resorts, Rodriguez, Sheer, Harding and Groover as defendants.