Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Gentile denies conflict in Malone case

Former Clark County Commissioner Lance Malone's attorney, Dominic Gentile, denied federal prosecutors' accusations that he may have a conflict of interest in defending Malone against political corruption charges.

Gentile spent more than three hours before U.S. Magistrate Lawrence Leavitt on Friday, saying that his past representation of former strip club owner Michael Galardi, who has pleaded guilty in the ongoing political corruption probe, does not present a conflict of interest when it comes to defending Malone.

"I'm not going to place myself in an unethical situation," Gentile told Leavitt. "If I thought there was a conflict of interest, I wouldn't be here."

After hearing from Gentile and Assistant U.S. Attorney Dan Schiess, Leavitt said that he would take Schiess' motion to disqualify Gentile from the case under advisement.

Prosecutors filed a motion under seal in May to bounce Gentile from the case, alleging he has several conflicts of interest in representing Malone and other potential witnesses in the case. The motion and a 122-page reply from Gentile denying that there are conflicts were unsealed Thursday.

Malone, County Commissioner Mary Kincaid-Chauncey and former Commissioners Dario Herrera and Erin Kenny have been charged with trading political influence for money and gifts from Michael Galardi, who once owned several Las Vegas strip clubs.

Malone, Kincaid-Chauncey and Herrera all have pleaded innocent, but Kenny and Galardi have pleaded guilty and are cooperating with prosecutors.

The government's motion is based on information provided by Galardi, who has told authorities Gentile represented him in 1996 on a topless nightclub matter in San Diego. Galardi owned Cheetahs in San Diego at the time and was trying to get officials there to relax an ordinance restricting the movements of topless dancers.

Prosecutors contend that, since Galardi is a government witness in the case, it could present a conflict for Gentile as he defends Malone. Gentile also represents Galardi's father, Jack Galardi, who was not charged in the probe, but who also could end up being a witness.

Gentile said that he didn't receive any information protected by attorney- client privilege due to his representation of Mike Galardi in 1996.

"Nothing came to me in confidence from Mike Galardi on those matters," Gentile said.

Schiess said that a conflict could arise if Mike Galardi is called as a witness in the political corruption trial scheduled for next year, and while on the stand testifies about issues involving his father. This could put Gentile in the position of choosing whether or not to cross examine Mike Galardi about his father to help Malone's defense or disregarding it to protect Jack Galardi.

Jack Galardi has filed a civil suit against his son, alleging that Mike Galardi skimmed money from Cheetahs, but Gentile says he has heard no evidence that Jack Galardi was aware of the alleged skimming while it was occurring or that Mike Galardi would bring such evidence forward on the witness stand.

Gentile hypothesized that if such evidence existed and Mike Galardi had somehow bargained for his father not to be charged as part of his plea agreement then there would be a conflict.

Schiess said that he has no evidence that Jack Galardi knew of the alleged skimming.

"If we had such evidence we would have never cut that kind of deal with Mike Galardi," Schiess said. "If we had that information we would have indicted and prosecuted Jack Galardi as well."

Prosecutors also are alleging that Gentile has a conflict in representing both Malone and the subject of the ongoing federal probe, which FBI officials have said has shifted focus to developers who allegedly bought the favor of politicians.

Nearly two hours of the hearing was devoted to discussion about Gentile's representation of the subject, who was not named, but that portion of the hearing was closed to the public because the probe remains sealed.

Gentile does represent developer Don Davidson, vice president of Triple Five Development Corp., who has received a letter from the FBI indicating that he has been recorded on the more than 100,000 wiretaps collected in the case.

A source close to the investigation has said that Davidson paid Kenny $200,000 as part of a deal to get a controversial drugstore development passed by the commission. Gentile, on Davidson's behalf, has said that isn't true.

David Brown, who represents Herrera, said that prior to the release of the indictments against the politicians he worked with the law offices of Peter Christiansen, who used to represent Mike Galardi.

Brown told Leavitt that he had met with Mike Galardi and Lance Malone in the past in relation to strip club ordinances, but he didn't feel there was a conflict. Schiess said he planned to meet with Brown to discuss the meetings with Galardi and Malone.

Mike Galardi is now represented by San Diego attorney Robert Rose.

Leavitt gave no indication as to when he might issue a decision on the motion to disqualify Gentile. If Gentile is disqualified from representing Malone, it likely would cause a further delay for the trial date, which has been tentatively scheduled for March 8, 2005.

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