Las Vegas executive denies wrongdoing in funds case

Thursday, Feb. 1, 2001 | 11:05 a.m.

A senior executive of The Event Inc., who was accused by a former employee, Camille Gray, of improperly withdrawing $966,882 of a $1.549 million loan deposited at a Las Vegas branch of Bank of America, denied the charges and in turn, accused her of embezzling company funds.

Gray sued Douglas Stewart and a partner, Rose Chu, a chief executive of Promote Classic Sdn. Bhd. of Malaysia this month, alleging they defamed her when they accused her of embezzling funds and sabotaging the company's attempt to secure contractual rights for a proposed boxing match between Mike Tyson and Lennox Lewis in Kuala Lumpur, the Malaysian capital.

Stewart disputed Gray's allegations, saying Gray, whom he said was hired as a secretary on Dec. 7, was retaliating against him for terminating her on Jan. 2 after she allegedly improperly withdrew $50,000 on Jan. 1 and allegedly tried to withdraw $666,882 from The Event's bank account and transfer that money to a personal CD.

He claimed she also withdrew $60,000 on Dec. 17 allegedly to pay the staff of her Las Vegas communications company.

The Event has been closed and renamed Promote Classic USA Inc., a subsidiary of Promote Classic, he said.

"The bank called us prior to releasing the monies and asked if we were aware that she was trying to withdraw the $666,882. That was when we froze the account and transfered the monies to Rose Chu's Promote Classic account in Las Vegas," he said. "I personally gave Gray a $100,000 loan to help her start up her company, Tattletel, but she never tried to return the money."

Stewart also disputed Gray's charges that her reputation was hurt when Chu claimed Gray stole money from her.