Facebook
Fark
Digg
Reddit
StumblePrivé owner files for bankruptcy protection in Florida
Courtesy
Prive
Published Thursday, Nov. 12, 2009 | 3:54 p.m.
Updated Thursday, Nov. 12, 2009 | 5:29 p.m.
Related Document (.pdf)
Sun Archives
- County grants temporary license to Prive (8-18-2009)
- Privé close to receiving temporary liquor license (8-17-2009)
- Prive withdraws appeal of liquor license denial (8-14-2009)
- Third time a charm for Privé’s liquor license? (8-14-2009)
- Former Prive workers blast handling of tips (8-10-2009)
- Is the party over for Prive? (7-29-2009)
The owner of the Privé and Living Room nightclubs at the Planet Hollywood resort in Las Vegas filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Wednesday in Florida.
Two cases to restructure the clubs' finances were filed in Miami, by Privé Vegas LLC and PVPH LLC.
Court papers indicate the owner of the clubs intends to keep them open; and Privé promoted on Twitter and Facebook an event for Thursday night launching "La Rumba Thursdays."
The bankruptcy filings didn't disclose if they are related to investigations of illegal activity at the clubs this year by state and local regulators. The clubs were temporarily closed this summer by Clark County because of ordinance violations.
Messages for comment on the bankruptcies were left with the clubs' parent company, the Opium Group in Miami; and with Planet Hollywood.
Judge A. Jay Cristol -- the same judge presiding over the Fontainebleau Las Vegas bankruptcy case -- on Thursday approved a routine motion that the 114 Privé employees and independent contractors receive their wages and benefits.
But Cristol did not approve a request that an "insider" receive $13,000, according to hand-written notes on the order.
"The debtor’s timely payment of employee compensation and benefits, including those that accrued pre-(bankruptcy) petition, is critical to maintain their workforce and business operations to enable a seamless transition into Chapter 11," attorneys for Privé said in a court filing.
Among the largest creditors listed in the Privé filing are Planet Hollywood operator OpBiz LLC, with a disputed claim of about $690,000; ADT Construction Group Inc. of Las Vegas, with a disputed claim of $1.6 million; Sun City Electric of Las Vegas, with a disputed claim of about $844,000; Midwest Drywall of Las Vegas, with a disputed claim of about $527,000; and the Las Vegas law firm Lionel Sawyer & Collins, owed about $435,000.
In total, Privé's filing estimated it has up to 99 creditors, assets of less than $50,000 and liabilities of $1 million to $10 million.
PVPH listed just one creditor, OpBiz, with a disputed claim of $506,000.
PVPH has no employees and is an entity created to be the named tenant on the lease for the clubs, though that lease has been assigned to Privé, Privé attorneys said in court papers.
Privé managers this summer said they were working to pay back Planet Hollywood for a $500,000 fine imposed on Planet Hollywood by the state Gaming Control Board over illegal activities at the clubs including prostitution, underage drinking and drug use. Clark County investigators also reported finding lewd and topless behavior at the clubs.
Discussion: comments so far…
Comments are moderated by Las Vegas Sun editors. Our goal is not to limit the discussion, but rather to elevate it. Comments should be relevant and contain no abusive language. Comments that are off-topic, vulgar, profane or include personal attacks will be removed. Full comments policy. Additionally, we now display comments from trusted commenters by default. Those wishing to become a trusted commenter need to verify their identity or sign in with Facebook Connect to tie their Facebook account to their Las Vegas Sun account. For more on this change, read our story about how it works and why we did it.
Only trusted comments are displayed on this page. Untrusted comments have expired from this story.
No trusted comments have been posted.
Post a comment
Most Popular
- Viewed
- Discussed
- E-mailed
- Superstar Whitney Houston dies at 48
- Two dead after accident in downtown Las Vegas
- Instant Analysis: Debating whether UNLV should continue series with San Diego State
- Police looking for man in white Ford Explorer
- Dining Guide: 2012 Valentine’s Day options in Las Vegas
- Color from the scene at Thomas & Mack Center: We have a wire job! Rebels win, and Louie Armstrong sings!
- Four people injured in car accident
- UNLV can move forward without the burden of losing streak to San Diego State
- Blog: Justin Hawkins’ steal seals UNLV’s thrilling 65-63 victory against San Diego State
- UNLV makes key plays down stretch to hold off San Diego State 65-63
Blogs
The Kats Report
Color from scene at Thomas & Mack: We have a wire job! Rebels win, and Louie Armstrong sings!
South Point owner Michael Gaughan's take on 'Vegas Stripped': 'I'll give it an 8' (4 Comments)
Author relishes writing the life story of ‘larger-than-life’ Oscar Goodman (3 Comments)
Elsewhere
Landowner: All roads could lead to Uxbridge casino
Revel reveals smoke-free casino opening
Cirque du Soleil show in Sands China casino to close this month
Meet the woman behind Sheldon Adelson
The Sun
Locally owned and independent for more than 50 years.
Just watch. This is a maneuver to try to prevent the County from refusing to give the bankrupt companies permanent liquor licenses, and to stop the County from canceling existing licenses.
What they do is run up huge debts and pay themselves huge salaries then go BK and start the cycle all over.
I think the Judge is proceeding wisely on this filing. Paying the employees is vital. And NOT paying the "insiders" any money is an excellent decision by the Judge.
Does Prive deserve the fine. YEP.
Does Prive deserve to be under the electron microscope. YEP.
Does Prive deserve a liquor license. THAT SHOULD BE VOTED UPON BY THE PROPER ELECTED PARTIES.
AND THE OWNERS, *ALL* OF THEM, NEEDS TO SHOW UP *IF* A VOTE IS TAKEN, and,
GIVE THEIR COMPLETE LEGAL NAMES, and,
ADDRESSES,
LIKE THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO IN THE PUBLIC MEETING.
I DON'T WANT TO SEE SOME "MOBSTER" SHOWING UP AT THE COMMISSION MEETINGS WITH BODYGUARDS WHO ONLY GIVES A "NICKNAME", AND SEE COMMISSION MEMBERS NODDING LIKE BOBBLE-HEAD DOLLS WHO THEN PROCEED TO TAKE A PREORDAINED LIQUOR LICENSE VOTE TO APPROVE (maybe like before).
(This would be all on recorded T.V., ya' know...)
Hope the county dimwits are happy.Another business that generates alot of income for servers and brings in important tax revenue having to file bankruptcy.Really, who in thier right mind would want to set up any kind of high dollar entertainment business here? When you try to satisfy your customers, you are treated with a fine and punishment from multiple panels of losers.Elected and not that have never earned a honest dime in thier lives.The new Vegas lite culture is the very reason our local economy is in the dumps.Hopefully our elected officials will see the light and keep Metro, licensing and the rest far and away from these contributing businesses.