拉斯维加斯希尔顿酒店赌场业务争夺战

  拉斯维加斯希尔顿酒店赌场的控制权纠纷案件,经法院裁决后转移到了内华达州博彩委员会。

  以银行投资家戈德曼萨克斯为首的放债人已提起诉讼,要求法院负责任命新的希尔顿酒店管理人,正常运营希尔顿酒店的赌场业务。

  为期两天的听证后,克拉克县地方法院法官伊丽莎白。冈萨雷斯在周三(12.14)正式批准,任命longtime gaming 的执行官罗纳德约翰逊为希尔顿赌场酒店的新管理人,但他只负责希尔顿赌场酒店的非赌博业务。

  这是希尔顿目前的主要业主——亿万富翁托马斯兵营洛城投资公司努力奋战戈德曼公司的结果,他们还将计划让罗纳德约翰逊获得经营赌场酒店的博彩执照。

  但Barrack在星期二的听证会上作证时称这种情况是“站不住脚的”。律师也认为,根据内华达州法律,贷款人是无法获得借款人的博彩牌照的。博彩牌照是不得转让的。

  格拉梅西贷款服务公司的律师认为,约翰逊的目的似乎也是企图“劫持”希尔顿酒店赌场的博彩牌照,而这是内华达州博彩法律所允许。

  内华达州的一家律师事务所的律师芽希克斯说:“根据法律,许可证的授权和使用的目的是为了保护债权人的权利。”

  冈萨雷斯则对此作出表示,她说目前法律上并没有对这个问题作出清晰的解释。

  她同意约翰逊运行非赌博业务,并表示,如果戈德曼获得内华达州博彩委员会的批准,她可能会重新考虑希尔顿酒店赌场业务的接管问题。如果内华达州博彩委员会无特别指示,罗纳德约翰逊将于12月22日开始经营的希尔顿赌场酒店。

  译文

  Fight over Las Vegas Hilton casino operations to continue

  A dispute over control of the Las Vegas Hilton’s casino is moving to the Nevada Gaming Commission after a court ruling Wednesday.

  Lenders led by investment bank Goldman Sachs — also a minority investor in the 2,950-room Hilton — are foreclosing on the property and, in the meantime, have filed a lawsuit asking that a receiver accountable to the court be appointed to run the Hilton.

  After a two-day hearing, Clark County District Court Judge Elizabeth Gonzalez on Wednesday approved the appointment of longtime gaming executive Ronald Johnson as receiver — but only for the Hilton’s nongaming operations.

  That was after the Hilton’s current majority owner, billionaire Thomas Barrack of Los Angeles investment company Colony Capital LLC, fought efforts by Goldman Sachs to allow Johnson to run the casino using the Hilton’s current gaming licenses.

  Barrack testified during a hearing Tuesday that such a situation would be “untenable” .

  Attorneys for Barrack and the Hilton’s parent company he controls, Colony Resorts LVH Acquisitions LLC, also argued that in a foreclosure, a lender can’t acquire a borrower’s gaming license as under Nevada law, such licenses cannot be transferred.

  Attorneys for Goldman Sachs and its loan servicer, Gramercy Loan Services LLC, argued Johnson’s operation of the casino under the Hilton’s current gaming licenses is something allowed under Nevada gaming law and is not an attempt to “hijack” those gaming licenses.

  “It is an authorized use of the license provided by law to protect the rights of creditors,” attorney Bud Hicks of the Nevada law firm McDonald Carano Wilson LLP told Gonzalez.

  Gonzalez, however, said the law is unclear on this issue.

  She agreed Johnson could run the nongaming operations and said that if Goldman Sachs gains approval from the Nevada Gaming Commission for Johnson to run the casino during a hearing set for Dec. 22, she may reconsider the casino receivership request.