Bankruptcy for planned Las Vegas Casino

Failed plans for Strip casino drag second company into bankruptcy
By Steve Green

Investors and creditors face millions of dollars in losses as Indian casino figure R. Shawn Ellis of Las Vegas put another company into Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation Thursday.

Ellis Gaming & Entertainment LLC, doing business as Ellis Gaming, filed for bankruptcy in Las Vegas listing $12.1 million in liabilities.

Ellis Partners LLC owns 85 percent of Ellis Gaming with Sturm Gaming LLC holding the other 15 percent, the filing says.

Another Ellis company, Ellis Las Vegas Inc., filed for Chapter 7 in November, listing liabilities of $1.84 million.

The bankruptcies are related to failed plans for a gambling resort on the Las Vegas Strip and litigation between Ellis and the Elk Valley Rancheria, an Indian tribe with a casino in Crescent City, Calif., near the Oregon border on the Pacific coast, that Ellis used to manage.

Elk Valley Rancheria sued Ellis in 2008, saying it had loaned him $480,000 for development of the "Ellis Las Vegas" casino resort but that Ellis failed to pay back the money. Ellis maintains he doesn't need to pay back the money because the tribe converted the loan into equity in an Ellis company.

That lawsuit is set for trial in federal court in Las Vegas in March, though it could be settled before then.

In Thursday's bankruptcy filing, Ellis Gaming said its main asset is a $5 million "possible breach of contract claim" against Elk Valley Rancheria.

Other than that, the company's only asset is $25,440 in accounts receivable.

Creditors listed in Thursday's filing include:

--Seminole Wind LLC of Las Vegas, $5 million.

--Sturm Gaming of Las Vegas/Roland V. Sturm, $3.31 million

--Michael A. Coronado of Las Vegas, $1.17 million

--James D. Hammer of Las Vegas, $1.17 million

--Vision Building Systems of Las Vegas, $350,000

--Architectural firm HOK of Kansas City, Mo., $269,000

--First Security Bank of Nevada, $224,000

--O'Reilly Law Group of Las Vegas, $200,000

--MKP Trust/Matt Pearson of Las Vegas, $95,000

The filing says Ellis Gaming posted losses of $5.5 million in 2008, $42,900 in 2009 and $7.47 million this year.

The company had been leasing a 2007 Cadillac Escalade, but the vehicle was turned in on Nov. 12 when the lease expired, the filing says.

In 2009, the company sold office furniture for $365,000 to a company called Luxe Partners LLC, the filing says.