Creditors’ trustee in Lake Las Vegas bankruptcy case sues Texas billionaires

The amended lawsuit was filed Friday in bankruptcy court by attorney Robert Charles on behalf of trustee Larry Lattig.

Lake Las Vegas, a 3,600-acre resort development built around a man-made lake in Henderson, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in July 2008 and the bankruptcy court confirmed its plan of reorganization on July.

In addition to the Bass brothers, who live in Fort Worth, Texas, defendants include Matthew Boeddeker of Henderson and Catherine Boeddeker of Santa Barbara, Calif., who is the trustee of the family trust.

Her late husband, Ronald Boeddeker, developed Lake Las Vegas with the Bass brothers as partners. The owners borrowed $560 million from a syndicate led by Credit Suisse in 2004.

The lawsuit said that the owners “immediately paid themselves” $470 million, which is “the crux of the lawsuit.”

“The $470 million distribution to the insider defendants deliver a mortal wound to (Lake Las Vegas) from which it never recovered and resulted in it slowly bleeding to death in a sea of red ink,” the lawsuit said.

By June 2006, Lake Las Vegas was out of money and had tens of millions of dollars of obligations to homebuilders for improvements.

Among the causes of the lawsuit are recovery of the insider transfers, breach of fiduciary duty, aiding and abetting breach of fiduciary duty and conspiracy and unjust enrichment.

The lawsuit, which is pending before judge Linda Riegle, seeks $469 million for the transfers, damages to plaintiff for breaches of fiduciary duty and interest on damages.

Lake Las Vegas is 14 miles east of the Strip and features multimillion-dollar homes including one owned by singer Céline Dion. It has two luxury hotels, three golf courses and a casino.

Contact reporter John G. Edwards at
jedwards@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0420.