Track owner with mob ties told to sell TuP
thunde...@webtv.net
Conditions issued for Turf Paradise sale
Tom Zoellner and Dennis Wagner
The Arizona Republic
Nov. 28, 2001
Negotiations for the sale of Turf Paradise racetrack are under way
between owner Jeremy Simms and state regulatory officials who say the
former California car dealer has an unsavory past and must surrender all
interest in the north Phoenix track.
"He immediately needs to get out of the management and control of the
track," said Steve Hart, the director of the Arizona Department of
Gaming. "He needs to get out completely."
The state has offered Simms these conditions: Give up day-to-day
authority at Turf Paradise and make arrangements to sell his interest
within six months, possibly to his brother Ronald Simms. Until then, his
50 percent share of the track could be placed in a blind trust.
Officials say they want assurances that Jeremy "Jerry" Simms will not
have any future influence at the racetrack through a puppet owner.
"I believe we'll have an airtight agreement and one that's enforceable,"
said Mike Bielecki, a top aide to Gov. Jane Hull.
An agreement to sell Turf Paradise would put an end to three separate
legal challenges Simms has made to the denial of his gambling licenses
by the Racing and Gaming departments.
Arizona state officials have paid nearly $100,000 to outside attorney
Fred Petti to handle the closed-door negotiations with Simms' lawyer,
Gerald Alston. It marks the first time that Simms has sent signals he is
willing to give up his lengthy regulatory fight with the state and sell
his majority stake in the racetrack for which he paid $53 million last
year.
It also signifies the state's attempt to close an embarrassing chapter
in its recent history: the May 30, 2000 decision to grant Simms a
racing license even after investigators unearthed evidence he had paid
bribes to California state officials.
The five-member Racing Commission voted to grant Simms a license to run
Turf Paradise in a meeting that lasted eight minutes and featured no
probing questions from the commission.
During his 18 months in Arizona, Simms has been credited with making
$5 million in luxury renovations to the state's largest horse-wagering
facility. He is also regarded as a key player in the successful effort
by Arizona racetracks to have a federal judge declare Indian gaming
illegal.
But questions about the apparently superficial background check on Simms
sparked an investigation from the state Department of Public Safety and
prompted Hull to fire then-head of the Racing Department, Jim
Higginbottom.
The department has since made a sharp U-turn in its assessment of Simms.
Citing his involvement in a California bribery scandal and his financial
ties with former Las Vegas Mafia front man Allen Glick, the department
revoked Simms' license Oct. 1.
A new report from the Racing Department said a misleading application
from Simms and his ties with "known organized-crime figures" are
troubling in light of his "predisposition to influencing decisions via
money."
The report cited a statement Simms made to racing investigators six days
before he got the racetrack license. Simms, referring to $25,000 he paid
the California Attorney General's office in connection with a complaint
against his car dealership there, said, "I'd pay more than $25,000 not
to put you guys and me through this whole thing (investigation), you
know what I'm saying."
Phone calls to Simms' attorneys Alston and John Mangum were not returned
Monday or Tuesday. But in court papers filed in September, Alston said
Simms has never had a relationship or tie with "any underworld figure."
Alston also charged the state was operating under erroneous conclusions
based on old grand jury testimony from the 1980s.
By virtually all accounts, Simms was granted his permit to operate Turf
Paradise and its off-track betting sites on the strength of a letter
from James Wedick Jr., an FBI special agent who used Simms as an
informant in a California political corruption scandal known as
"Shrimpgate."
A. Melvin McDonald Jr., chairman of the state Racing Commission, and
Higginbottom have pointed to Wedick's avowal as proof that Simms had no
criminal past.
But that position has been disputed by Charles M. Steele, the FBI deputy
general counsel, who said the endorsement of Simms' character "does not
(and never did) constitute the official position of the FBI."
Simms testified before a grand jury 10 years ago that he paid a state
official $10,000 for helping him resolve with the California Attorney
General's Office a consumer fraud complaint against his car dealership.
He also lent $100,000 to a member of the California Coastal Commission
to help stop a hotel development and win approval for a swimming pool at
his La Jolla home.
Answering questions under an immunity deal, he admitted that the payment
was a bribe. In addition, records show Simms served as middleman in the
$250,000 shakedown of a developer.
The Racing Department reported that Simms concealed the extent of his
dealings with Glick, a longtime friend to whom he has lent millions of
dollars. For example, Simms' application lists $1 million in loans
that he made to Glick's casino company in the Philippines from 1992-99.
But it does not mention $5 million worth of additional wire transfers
between the two men in 1995 alone. Simms' accountant denied knowledge of
those transactions, according to investigators, who found no
documentation or accountability for the money exchange.
Simms claimed in an interview with gaming agents last year that he had
cut off his friendship with Glick. Yet, one month later, Glick admitted
that he was in daily phone contact with Simms, as he had been for
15 years.
Glick was at the center of a 1970s Las Vegas skimming operation at the
Fremont and Stardust hotels. After becoming a federal witness, he helped
win convictions against some top mob figures in Chicago and Kansas City.
In an odd replay of the Wedick incident, former FBI Agent Clark Hall
wrote two testimonials vouching for Glick's character which Simms
submitted with his application. But those letters, too, have been
renounced by the bureau's attorney.
Current report:
http://community.webtv.net/thunderbooly/Weeklybreakdown
Breakdown report: first year
http://community.webtv.net/thunderbooly/Horseracinginjury
craigsc...@gmail.com
Additional details on his dealings with the mob covered by the San Diego Reader: https://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2001/mar/22/with-friends-these/.