(Resorts World Las Vegas media photo)
A federal lawsuit filed by gambler Robert “R.J.” Cipriani against Resorts World and its former president Scott Sibella has been dismissed by U.S. District Judge Miranda Du.
Cipriani was arrested at Resorts World in November 2021 for taking the cell phone of convicted fraudster Robert Alexander, who Cipriani says harassed him for weeks as he gambled.
Cipriani’s lawsuit alleged Sibella and other Resorts World executives failed to stop the harassment and were angered by the attention from law enforcement that Cipriani brought on the casino.
“In sum, November 19, 2021, was a bad day for Cipriani because he was arrested twice after getting into this altercation with Alexander at Resorts World where he took Alexander’s phone,” Du wrote in her order, adding the second arrest was for cheating.
Cipriani, however, was arrested once. A month later District Attorney Steve Wolfson filed additional charges alleging Cipriani cheated by changing his bet on Nov. 19 in the middle of a hand.
Cipriani contends Sibella embarked on a campaign to discredit him, and directed surveillance personnel to review hundreds of hours of Cipriani’s play to “find something” to use to accuse him of cheating.
The lawsuit alleged that Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson intended to drop charges against Cipriani until news media reported the story. Wolfson reduced the cheating charges to disorderly conduct six months after Cipriani’s arrest.
“I am currently interviewing the best appellate law firms and attorneys in Nevada,” Cipriani said Friday.
Sibella’s attorney, Colby Williams, declined to comment on the dismissal of the case, as did a spokesperson for Resorts World.
Cipriani, a California resident, played a central role in that state’s federal probe of illegal bookmakers using Nevada casinos to launder money.
Sibella, who was president of MGM Grand when bookie Wayne Nix’s $120,000 cash payment of a gambling debt went unreported to federal authorities, agreed to plead guilty in January to one count of failing to report suspicious activity to authorities. MGM entered a non-prosecution agreement and paid a $7.45 million fine.
Du rejected Cipriani’s attempts to weave federal law enforcement’s case against Sibella into his lawsuit, writing in her order of dismissal that the plea agreement and references to it in Cipriani’s pleadings “are immaterial, impertinent, and scandalous. The plea agreement is not relevant to any of Cipriani’s claims against Sibella in this case, because the plea agreement relates to a different time at a different casino involving different people.”
The judge said Cipriani’s attempt to conflate the events is “also scandalous as to Sibella because it is offered to support Cipriani’s suggestion that Sibella is nefarious without tending to make any of Cipriani’s allegations… more or less true.”
Du said references to Sibella’s plea agreement are improper because Cipriani filed his lawsuit before Sibella entered the plea deal.
The Nevada Gaming Control Board in August issued a complaint against Resorts World that includes allegations similar to those Cipriani notified Sibella and Resorts World compliance executives about in the weeks leading up to his arrest, according to his complaint and an array of exhibits.
The GCB’s complaint alleges Resorts World’s compliance committee deleted from their meeting minutes notations about gambler Mathew Bowyer’s source of funds and bookmaking activity.
At the February 2023 compliance committee meeting, the director of cage operations asserted for a second time that Bowyer “is a known bookie and is using his spouse’s business as the cover,” according to the GCB.
A month later, the hotel employed Bowyer’s wife, Nicole, as an independent host for her husband.
Sibella told the Current in August he did not attend meetings of Resorts World’s compliance committee, although he was a member.
“I relied on my executive team to handle compliance issues,” Sibella said via text. “At MGM, I relied on the Corporate Compliance Committee, which I was never invited to attend.”
Boyer, who lost just under $8 million gambling at Resorts World, is the illegal bookmaker who accepted tens of millions of dollars in sports bets from Ippei Mizuhara, the former interpreter of baseball star Shohei Ohtani. Mizuhara has pleaded guilty to the theft.
Note: Reporter Dana Gentry has been represented by Campbell & Williams, the firm of attorney Colby Williams.