Misra, husband have history in court

Clark County District Court records show that Shruti Misra and her husband, Anil Gupta, were involved in at least nine lawsuits that were filed between 1992 and 1997.

Gupta claims his wife is worth over $5 billion in domestic and foreign real estate and precious metals located in a Las Vegas warehouse. The couple made national headlines a week ago after offering to purchase the NFL's Minnesota Vikings for $225 million.

In one of the earlier lawsuits, Misra was sued in September 1992 by Krishna & Rao Inc., a Nevada corporation, for failing to repay a $200,000 loan. The lawsuit alleged that Misra borrowed the money from the company in August 1991 by using a new home on Juliano Road in Las Vegas as collateral. But Misra never repaid any part of the loan.

According to court documents, Misra agreed instead to allow the company to foreclose on the home.

In a more recent filing, Gupta and Misra sued Ashok Kumar Singh, Anita Singh and their Aditi-Arjun Holding Trust in June, 1997. The case involved a land deal that fell apart. But the Singh family countersued later that month.

Gupta and Misra alleged they became partners with the Singhs to purchase commercial land behind the Boomtown (now Silverton) hotel-casino, and that the Singhs eventually took the title to the entire lot without notifying them.

Gupta and Misra admitted in the suit they took a 9-month, $105,000 loan from the Singhs at 30-percent interest.

In their counter claim, the Singhs said Gupta "intentionally misrepresented" the fact that he and Misra paid $70,000 for 70 percent of the lot. In fact, the Singhs alleged that Gupta and Misra didn't pay any of their own money for the lot, which they said cost only $45,000.

The way Gupta and Misra obtained the 70 percent of the parcel behind Boomtown, according to the suit, was to use money they received from the Singhs for their 30 percent of the land.

At a conference May 7 conducted by discovery commissioner Thomas Biggar, both sides were given until Nov. 20 to complete discovery, with a trial expected to begin as early as Jan. 4, 1999.

Even without his myriad lawsuits, Gupta has spent considerable time in Clark County District Court.

Gupta was arrested on four counts of theft in 1994 for shady real estate deals in which he sold secured deeds of trust worth $86,000 to properties he knew were about to be foreclosed. He also sold interests in other properties twice over.

He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit theft, a gross misdemeanor. He was fined $2,000 and paid retribution. Before sentencing, however, Gupta could not afford the $12,000 bail.

Gupta also filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy last year, claiming liabilities of $991,265 and assets of $37,530.

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