Mirage charged with debt-collection violation

The Nevada Gaming Control Board also says Mirage legal counsel Bruce Aguilera lied to an investigator when asked about a meeting with one of the Las Vegas resort's Korean marketing agents.

The 12-count complaint, seeking up to $2.1 million in fines, and a proposed settlement will be discussed by the board's parent state Gaming Commission at its Thursday meeting in Carson City.

Mirage spokesman Alan Feldman said the resort "acknowledges mistakes were made but we deny many of the allegations."

The casino has agreed to pay a fine and has taken internal disciplinary action against some employees, Feldman added.

Korean law bars the transfer of more than $10,000 out of the country without government permission. The complaint alleges that Mirage marketers Macao Lee and Laura Choi collected gambling debts and brought them back to Las Vegas in violation of the laws.

The complaint says in 1995 Choi collected $600,000 on $1 million owed by a South Korean gambler, and avoided customs by having a third party convert the money to travelers checks delivered to her after she boarded a plane to the United States. Choi told control board agents that Mirage executives Al Faccinto and Markley Hug knew what was going on.

The complaint also says that in 1996, Choi collected $600,000 of $1.7 million owed by Korean gamblers and returned, again without notifying the Korean government.

In 1997, she made another trip and collected $534,000. This time, she was arrested and sentenced to prison for one year and the money was confiscated. The prison sentence was later suspended.

When Choi returned to Las Vegas and to the Mirage, she saw Aguilera and asked him to meet with her. But board agent R. Palmer said Aguilera told her he hadn't spoken with Choi and that Choi hadn't returned to this country.

At an Aug. 5 Control Board meeting, Aguilera denied he lied to agent Palmer. At that meeting, the board withheld approval of his application to be an officer in the Bellagio, another Mirage Resorts property.

The complaint says Lee collected $25,000 in Korea and gave the money to Mirage representatives Faccinto, Paul Weintraub, William Bingham and Craig Seaman, who were on a promotion trip to Asia in late 1995.

The money was divided among the four to "avoid detection by South Korean customs officials," the complaint states.

The Mirage also is accused of filling out documents to indicate that South Korean players were in Las Vegas paying off the debts. The complaint also says the Mirage didn't provide reports on some of the transactions to the board and the Internal Revenue Service.

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