Lisa
Rizzolo Nickel And Dimed Into Submission
- Agrees To Partial Settlement
INSIDE VEGAS by Steve Miller
AmericanMafia.com
February 4, 2013
LAS VEGAS - There
was a Settlement Conference held on Friday, January 29, 2013, before U.S.
Magistrate Judge George Foley, Jr. between Defendants Rick and Lisa Rizzolo
and their attorneys, and Plaintiffs Kirk and Amy Henry and their attorneys.
During the ten hour deliberation, the Court heard presentations from counsel
and from each of the parties. (Rick's stepmother Kimtran Rizzolo did not
participate.) A PARTIAL SETTLEMENT was reached, the terms of which are
confidential.
This
occurred after the Rizzolos failed in their last ditch effort to have the
Henry's attorneys Stan Hunterton (left) and Don Campbell (right)
disqualified
which was their only hope of keeping their hands on most of Rick's hidden
fortune that he derived from racketeering at his former Las Vegas strip
club the Crazy Horse Too. It was the Rizzolo's last trick in their bag
of tricks.
On October 5, 2012, attorneys for Lisa
Rizzolo filed an amazing 15
page OPPOSITION to the then-anticipated Injunction prohibiting her
from wasting or squandering the assets from her Cook Islands trust accounts,
money that was court ordered to be paid to beating
victim Kirk Henry and the IRS, but was fraudulently transferred off
shore before it could be seized.
On October 10, just five days after
Lisa's Opposition was filed, Senior U.S. Judge Philip Pro responded with
an ORDER
stating: "...the
Court concludes Plaintiffs have established that they are likely to succeed
on the merits, they are likely to suffer irreparable harm in the absence
of preliminary injunctive relief, the balance of equities tips in their
favor," and soon future withdrawals
from Lisa and her ex-husband's off shore accounts were required to be court
approved.
The Court's action to require approval
of all withdrawals from the Cook Islands bank caused Lisa's highly respected
attorneys George Kelisis (left) and Mark Bailus' (right) to be reduced
to begging the Court each month for her minimal living expenses and their
legal fees, something they most likely didn't anticipate when they agreed
to represent her.
In Lisa's Opposition, Kelisis and Bailus
underwhelmed the Court with the following plea, a plea that was the precursor
to the Partial Settlement reached on January 29.
Case
2:08-cv-00635-PMP-GWF Document 649 Filed 10/05/12 Page 5 of 15
Like many American families, Ms.
Rizzolo?s family has been hit hard by the recent economic recession. Over
the last year, her daughters and their families have had to move in with
Ms. Rizzolo and she has been supporting them. Clearly, this has affected
her finances but it certainly does not constitute ?waste.?
In addition to having her daughter
Monica and her four grandchildren living with her since February, 2012,
Ms. Rizzolo has also had her son, Dominic living with her since August,
2011. Dominic is unmarried and was living out of state when he came home
for a visit in August, 2011 and never left. He didn?t give an explanation
as to why he came home in the first place, however, in December, 2011,
he admitted to his mother that he had nowhere else to turn and nowhere
to go. He stated that he had messed up his life and he needed her help.
As his mother, Ms. Rizzolo felt
she had no choice but to help her son in his time of need. He is not working
at this time and has no plans to move out as of this date. Ms. Rizzolo
has fully supported him during the entire 14 months Dominic has lived with
her to include, but not limited to, food, clothing, medical insurance,
doctor bills, hospital bills, credit card payments, and auto insurance
to the tune of approximately $11,727.69.
INFORMATION ON DOMINIC RIZZOLO:
http://www.wftv.com/news/news/two-arrested-connection-strip-mall-casino-beating/nPB6W/
http://www.lvrj.com/blogs/smith/ON_THE_BOULEVARD_Dominic_Rizzolo_arreste
d_again.html
http://www.americanmafia.com/inside_vegas/6-21-10_Inside_Vegas.html
Based on the fact that Kirk Henry was
rendered a quadriplegic in 2001 from a beating by one the Rizzolo's strip
club managers after Henry disputed a padded bar tab, and because Henry
has not received one penny of restitution from the Rizzolo's personal fortune
that Rick
Rizzolo agreed to pay him in exchange for a shortened prison sentence,
the Court put her on a short financial leash to stop her spendthrift ways.
Here's the disapproved "living expenses"
Lisa asked for in January including $10,711.69 she marked "Miscellaneous:"
For the second month since Judge Pro ruled
that the Henrys would "suffer irreparable harm in the absence of preliminary
injunctive relief," Lisa received a fraction of what her legal team requested.
This may have inspired her to try to find a quick way to settle her and
her ex-husband's debt to the Henrys before the March 26 Uniform Fraudulent
Transfers Act (UFTA) jury trial that could result in her being jailed if
she loses in court and then refuses to repatriate her off shore funds.
The Cook Islands accounts are in her name
only, so Lisa would take the rap for Rick if she refuses to pay. (What
a guy!)
And its possible her attorneys were asked
to encourage her to settle this drawn out case by unnamed persons in the
Federal Court House (more later).
Here's what the Court approved for January.
To many people, $7,793.68 per month seems
adequate to pay for personal living expenses. But for Lisa who has long
lived in the lap of luxury from the proceeds of her ex-husband's racketeering,
that sum is a pittance compared to what it actually cost to support her
freeloading adult children and two big houses, one on a golf course in
Las Vegas, the other on the beach in Southern California.
For instance, Lisa pays $1,343 monthly
in property taxes to the state of California for her 2,880 sq. ft. house
on Ocean Front Way in Newport Beach. According to Zillow.com,
the Rizzolos bought the beach house in 1997 for $1.2 million, and today
its worth in excess of $3.1 million. Deduct $1,343 from her $7,793.68 monthly
allowance from her Cook Islands stash, and Lisa's left with only $6,450
per month to pay for the support of Dominic and Monica along with her personal
living expenses.
Unless Lisa is getting a secret supplement
from her ex-husband's suspected
gambling cash stored in casino cages, it sounds like she's in dire
straights which was probably what inspired her to agree to a Partial Settlement:
As of press time, no information has been
published by the United States Federal Court as to whether the $3 million
dollars illegally transferred to Rick's stepmother Kimtran Rizzolo from
the sale of the Philadelphia Crazy Horse Too was subject to the Settlement.
Also not mentioned is whether the scheduled March 26 UFTA jury trial will
still take place.
A veteran criminal defense attorney who
practices in Federal Court told INSIDE VEGAS, "It's what's not written
in the ORDER that's most important. Reading between the lines, I assume
that Lisa paid Henry a large sum from her Cook Islands accounts in exchange
for being taken off the Defendant's list. Now Rick is forced to stand alone
along with his stepmother Kimtran. Lisa's attorneys did the right thing
to convince her to settle. Their defense was very weak and they would probably
have failed at trial. Now it looks like Kimtran will follow in Rick's footsteps
and fail in front of the Ninth Circuit judges when her lawyer tries to
convince the Court that the Federal Government should have run the Crazy
Horse Too like they did the Mustang Ranch brothel to preserve the value.
The only way anyone could have preserved the value of that joint would
be to continue extorting people, breaking necks, selling dope and prostitutes,
padding bills, and ripping off credit cards. Otherwise, the Crazy Horse
was a worthless hole in the ground."
(The former Crazy Horse Too is for
sale, but the club lacks required parking, has a heinous reputation,
the building has been vandalized and is in tear down condition, and there
have been few - if any - offers to date.)
Absent Lisa Rizzolo as a Defendant in HENRY
v. RIZZOLO, it will be fascinating to watch what happens in the next several
weeks leading up to the UFTA trial.
As far as unseen hands at the Federal Courthouse
possibly encouraging Lisa's attorneys to convince her to settle, I believe
the Rizzolo's choice of John
Dawson, the brother of a Federal Judge, to be their "asset protection"
lawyer is the reason so little has happened and why the case is being settled
out of court.
John's brother is Kent Dawson, the Federal
Judge who let 15 Crazy Horse Too defendants off with slaps on the wrists
without disclosing his brother's lucrative ties to the Rizzolos.
John Dawson has been named as a witness
at the UFTA trial.
I bet no one at the Lloyd George Federal
Courthouse wants John Dawson to face cross examination and possibly be
asked why his brother did not make adequate disclosure while presiding
over 15 felony trials of goons who had worked for his brother's best client.
I believe Judge Dawson's colleagues on
the Federal bench have long tried to protect his reputation in this matter.
So the delays and possible encouragement to settle in order to squelch
John Dawson's appearance at the UFTA trial, are understandable - but if
true - highly inappropriate.
Of course, this is only my personal theory.
And nowhere in any recent Court Orders
is the mention of the $3 million dollars illegally transferred to Rick
Rizzolo's stepmother Kimtran
Rizzolo from the sale of the Philadelphia Crazy Horse Too. Kimtran's
funds are currently tied up based on her pending Appeal to the Ninth Circuit
Court.
Also not mentioned in current documents
are the back
taxes and penalties Rick Rizzolo has been court ordered to pay the
IRS. Because Mr. Henry was given priority over the IRS and all other creditors,
this Settlement does not stop the IRS from soon pursuing the Rizzolos for
unpaid taxes and penalties.
MORE INFORMATION:
http://www.americanmafia.com/Inside_Vegas/10-8-
12_Inside_Vegas.html
http://www.americanmafia.com/Inside_Vegas/10-15-
12_Inside_Vegas.html
