Approval withheld for Bellagio executive

Although the Bellagio itself received preliminary approval Wednesday from the state Gaming Control Board, the sailing for a key executive was not so smooth.

The board withheld approval from the man proposed to be the Bellagio's secretary-treasurer, Bruce Aguilera. The board said it wants to investigate further whether Aguilera lied to a state agent -- a charge he vehemently denied.

Aguilera, associated with Las Vegas gaming casinos for 20 years, is presently a top executive with the Mirage.

Aguilera's problem centered on a meeting with Laura Choi, a marketer in South Korea for the Mirage. She was convicted in that country of collecting $630,000 from South Korean businessmen in gambling debts and sending it to her employers. It's illegal in Korea for an individual to send more than $10,000 out of the country without permission.

The board said that one of its female agents telephoned Aguilera in January and that she reported that he told her he had not seen Choi. It said the agent, 15 minutes after talking to Aguilera, reported receiving a telephone call from an informant that Aguilera had seen Choi in the Mirage. The board's discussion Wednesday did not indicate whether the agent called Aguilera back to verify that tip.

Aguilera, who has never had any troubles with state regulators in the past, acknowledged to the board he had talked briefly with Choi that Friday morning before the agent's phone call. But he said the agent never asked him about Choi during the telephone conversation. And Aguilera said he never volunteered the information to the agent because he feared she might order him to stop communicating with Choi.

After the phone call, Aguilera acknowledges that he called his attorney, Frank Schreck, to find out if the state could prohibit him from meeting with Choi. Schreck was unavailable, Aguilera said, so he went ahead with another, longer meeting with Choi that afternoon.

The board on Wednesday, however, said the agent's report to the board differed from Aguilera's recollection of the incident. The agent, the board said, reported that in her phone call to Aguilera, she had asked him whether or not he had talked to Choi and that he had denied it.

Board member Brian Harris said this is a "he said, she said" case. But the agent, Harris said, documented the phone call immediately afterward, while Aguilera is relying on memory. Harris also noted that Aguilera telephoned the board agent the following Monday, to notify her that Choi was in Las Vegas.

The board also is investigating Choi to learn details of her violations in South Korea. The application of Aguilera was referred back to the board's staff for further investigation.

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