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By Karoun Demirjian (contact) 
Published Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2012 | 7:25 p.m.
Updated Thursday, Oct. 11, 2012 | 9:21 a.m.
Congressional candidate Danny Tarkanian talks to the media at his primary election night party at Born and Raised tavern, Tuesday, June 12, 2012.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. made a move Wednesday to start seizing Nevada assets from congressional candidate Danny Tarkanian and members of his family toward a $17 million judgment, apparently put in motion because, lawyers argue, Tarkanian missed a key deadline to file an objection.
In a court filing first reported by political journalist Jon Ralston, lawyers for the FDIC stated that the Tarkanian family’s lawyers had missed a mutually agreed upon Oct. 8 deadline to file documents opposing the FDIC’s claim to his property in Nevada.
Not filing any objection on time counts as a forfeit, the FDIC argued, clearing the way for them to start seizing Tarkanians’ property after the next scheduled court hearing on Oct. 22.
“Local Rule 7.1.e.2 requires a party opposing a motion to file an opposition by the due date,” FDIC lawyers wrote in the filing. “In light of Defendants’ failure to timely file an opposition to the instant motion or timely request an extension of time, FDIC-R’s motion should be granted as unopposed.”
But in an interview with the Las Vegas Sun Thursday morning, Danny Tarkanian said there was a good reason for his lawyer having missed the filing date, and didn’t expect it would affect the outcome of the case at all.
“My attorney missed it because his father passed away,” Tarkanian said. “There’s things that go on behind the scenes that affect things...things that happen personally. That’s where we’re at and that’s what we have to deal with.”
“This is a procedural matter, it has nothing to do with the merits of our case and whether we win or lose at the end,” Tarkanian added. “That’s going to be at the court of appeals...So it’s a non-story.”
Tarkanian explained that his family is starting court-mandated settlement talks on the matter that started when his family put up land in Henderson as collateral for an investment in a California real estate venture. The deal went south when the bank behind the deal failed in the economic crisis. The government foreclosed on the Tarkanian’s collateral property, but didn’t collect nearly the amount the Tarkanian’s had valued it at when they entered the California land deal at the height of the market in 2007. Because the FDIC only guarantees up to $250,000 in assets when banks fail, they started coming after the Tarkanians for the rest -- and in May, a federal judge gave the FDIC carte blanche to do so.
But the Tarkanians -- or Danny Tarkanian, at least -- do not seem at all ready to concede to the FDIC because they are starting to play hardball in the Nevada courts.
“Even if they do come in and start going after our assets, that’s what happens, that’s normal, it’s not going to affect us or force us into bankruptcy,” Tarkanian said.
And certainly, Tarkanian stressed, it will not change anything before Election Day. Tarkanian is the Republican candidate running to represent Nevada’s new 4th congressional district.
“There’s nothing that’s going to happen before the election...There’s no chance of filing bankruptcy before this election and until we get this matter resolved,” Tarkanian said, estimating that resolution of the FDIC matter “is going to be weeks away if not a month or two away.”
Tarkanian also wanted to make it clear that the danger of filing bankruptcy was more of a concern to other members of his family named in the suit than himself.
“If a bond is required it could force some members [of my family] to file bankruptcy,” Tarkanian said. “But some members are not all members and they are different than me personally.”
But when asked to clarify if there was any chance of him potentially filing bankruptcy as a sitting congressman, he demurred.
“What may happen or not happen is hard to determine,” he said. “But I’m not concerned about it.”
You make big bets and lose...this is what happens. The reward is huge if you pull it off but in this case Tark jr. trusted associates he should not have. His problem. Seize whatever needs to fulfill the obligation.
What this means is that the only people likely to vote for Tarkanian are folks who got screwed in real estate deals over the last 7 years which means that he'll only garner the votes of about EVERYBODY! See, Mr. Horsford, Danny is one of us!
Gee, nice timing. Kind of like the announcement of the lower unemployment figures! Do you think Obama is using the govt. to do his bidding politically?
Mr. Griffin...
Yup!!!
The whole 'conspiracy' to 'get Danny' started back when the Evil Gubbermint took control of his mind and talked him into investing all that borrowed 'hard cash' into a hare-brained scheme featuring ponies and a hotel in California, using Tark-owned land on the L.V. Blvd as collateral.
THEN, the Evil Gubbermint FORCED lil' Tark to miss a very important court filing (probably tied both he and his lawyers up on that particular Friday, maybe stashed them in a storage unit).
Complicit in this dastardly plot is Robert A. Dyson, Jr., his wife, Don Drysdale (sold the land to Dyson), the La Jolla bank that went belly-up (which brought the FDIC into the fray), and of course, Barack Obama, who designed & plotted to become President of the United States of America back in 2008 so he could 'get Danny Tarkanian' through the FDIC in October, 2012.
Good call!
So what's preventing Mr. T. from liquidating those assets he'd lose in bankruptcy and paying FDIC his "excess" net worth?
dave 202 gmag39 Just made a fool of you,big time. The Labor Department is independant and the numbers are the numbers. Nixon tried to figure a way to get to the Labor Department and he gave up.It is time for you supporters of Romneys 47% statement,the war on Medicare,Medicade,Social Security,womens rights,abortion,working people,college students,public education,the enviornment,tax breaks for billionaires and millionaires and on and on to quit lying about every issue that comes into play.
Danny boy is a licensed attorney and he if anyone should have been aware of the filing dead line. Now grow up and quit sniveling,little Tark has always been loser.
Man, the Sun is certainly trying to influence the Horsford/Tarkanian election today. I'm an independent voter, so I'm not trying to cry "conspiracy" so that my party wins. But it's interesting that there's a negative article about Tarkanian today, while Coolican wrote a fluff piece on Horsford.
Yeah, I know, it's just "the news", but there's a lot of news in the city/state/country/world. It's just interesting that the Sun chose to focus on this story on the same day that they ran the Horsford story.
A republican mindset - he doesn't want to pay for his mistakes, he wants us to.
Don't put it past the Republican no accounts electing him;they made that medicare fraudster governor in Florida didn't they ?
It seems Fair and Balanced to me.
@gmag: You're the man. You told a ridiculous story with all the humor and far-fetched conspiracy scenarios it deserved. My kudos for a job well done.
I wonder how many people will blame Obama for it raining today...
Like many Republicans, Danny thinks that the rules don't apply to him and are just for the commoners.
Mr. Tarkanian touts himself as a small business owner, and a job creator in his latest political ad. What small business, besides being a perpetual loser candidate for any and all political offices, has he been a part of? I hope he does go bankrupt so he'll get off the political stage, and realize what a total loser he really is.
Our President Endorsed Horsford and told the agency to go after Danny Tarkanian