Trump wins a legal round against Mirage

Mirage Resorts Inc. has been ordered to surrender to Trump Hotel & Casino Resorts Inc. all the information it was given by a Las Vegas P.I. hired away by Mirage from archrival Trump.

In an order last week, federal Magistrate Lawrence Levitt ordered Mirage to turn over all "notes, reports, memoranda, tape recordings and transcripts of tape recordings" gathered by Las Vegan Curt Rodriguez while he was investigating Trump on behalf of Mirage.

Rodriguez has become a central figure in an ongoing lawsuit between Trump and Mirage, and both sides accuse the other of using Rodriguez in an unethical and improper manner.

Rodriguez started working for Trump in February 1998, and says he first approached Mirage officials that November. Rodriguez testified he'd been hired by Trump to dig up dirt on Mirage Chairman Steve Wynn, but Trump has argued he was hired to gather evidence related to an anti-trust case between Mirage and Trump in New York.

Rodriguez formally signed up with Mirage in April 1999, singing a one-year, $120,000 investigation contract. Trump has argued Mirage intentionally stole the services of Rodriguez, then planted him within Trump's legal camp to set up the Atlantic City company for a lawsuit.

In his order, Levitt expressed concerns about Rodriguez's fence-hopping.

"This much, however, appears undisputed: Rodriguez was retained by Trump after Mirage filed the New York lawsuit; while that case was pending, and prior to the filing of the Nevada case, Rodriguez agreed to assist Mirage in preparing its lawsuit against Trump; on the very day Mirage filed its complaint against Trump in Nevada, Rodriguez signed an agreement with Mirage to gather 'evidence and/or information' concerning the defendants in the Nevada case," Levitt wrote.

"These facts alone justify a more searching inquiry into whether Mirage and Rodriguez have conspired to engage in unethical conduct in this case."

Trump has been trying to win a protective order barring Rodriguez's testimony regarding his work as a P.I. for Trump. So far, Rodriguez has provided the most damaging testimony against Trump, stating he was hired to steal Mirage documents and conduct a smear campaign against Mirage.

Mirage first sued Trump in April, alleging that Trump officials used a former Mirage employee, Laura Choi, to steal lists of Mirage's Korean "high rollers."

Choi was arrested in Korea in 1997 for collecting gaming debts and released three months later. She was subsequently fired and sued by Mirage, which claimed Choi was acting on her own. Nevertheless, Mirage agreed to pay a $350,000 fine to the Nevada Gaming Control Board in connection to the incident.

Rodriguez has testified he was hired primarily to approach Choi and obtain the lists from her.

Rodriguez testified he first approached Mirage in November 1998, after he said he became uncomfortable with the assignments he'd been given by Trump. In his affidavit, Rodriguez said he was ordered to dig up information for a huge smear campaign targeted at Wynn -- information that included investigations into rumors of alleged mob ties of Mirage and the slot machine playing habits of Wynn's mother.

But Trump maintains that Rodriguez violated his confidentiality commitments by going to Mirage while still under contract with Trump -- and said Mirage's efforts represented little more than an attempt to set up the company for litigation.

Former Mirage marketing official Paul Liu, named as a co-defendant, accused Rodriguez of setting him up for a lawsuit, and said he believed he was taped by Rodriguez. This charge was echoed by William Kish, the New York P.I. supervising Rodriguez's activities on behalf of Trump.

Choi, Liu, Kish and Trump general counsel Kevin Smith all testified that they had contact with Rodriguez up until the filing of the lawsuit, but that he never told any of them that he had been in contact with Mirage.

Mirage will be required to provide all materials provided by Rodriguez no later than this Friday. Levitt will hold hearings looking further into the matter on Dec. 20.

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