Big names leaving Vestin board

Kevin Rademacher

Monday, Nov. 3, 2003 | 11:28 a.m.

The list of high-powered directors for Vestin Group Inc., a big Las Vegas real estate lender, is getting smaller.

The company -- citing restrictions under new corporate governance rules -- has announced plans to trim its number of directors from 10 to five. In doing so, Vestin announced that seven of its existing directors will not seek re-election at a shareholders' meeting Nov. 24 in San Diego.

Among those leaving the board are Harrah's Entertainment Inc. executive and former Las Vegas Mayor Jan Jones, former Nevada Gaming Control Board Chairman Steven Du- Charme, attorney and former Henderson Mayor Robert Groesbeck, former Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce Chairman Robert Forbuss and James Walsh, a New York attorney and business manager for Vestin spokesman Joe Namath.

Also leaving the board are Las Vegas attorney John E. Dawson and Steve Byrne, chief operating officer for Vestin Group and chief executive with its subsidiary, Vestin Mortgage.

Matt Brimhall, a spokesman for Vestin, said provisions in the Sarbanes-Oxley Act limited the number of directors that can be on the board who have done work for the company. Dawson, Forbuss and Groesbeck have all done work for Vestin, he said.

Forbuss and Groesbeck said their departures have nothing to do with the company's recent legal and regulatory battles.

"There's nothing wrong with Vestin or anything like that," Forbuss said.

In April, a Clark County District Court judge criticized the state Financial Institutions Division for its failure to act on complaints developer Howard Bulloch brought against Vestin over the handling of two loans. After the division found no violations, Judge Sally Loehrer ordered a new investigation, and three possible violations were found.

The state is scheduled to begin hearings on those alleged violations on Nov. 12. That date, however, has not been finalized by the hearings officer that will preside over the case, said Ernest Figueroa, deputy attorney general.

In March, Bulloch won a $5 million judgment against Vestin in separate U.S. District Court case. The company plans to appeal, and Vestin has denied wrongdoing in the Bulloch court case and the FID complaint.