FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Wednesday, December 4, 2024
MEDIA CONTACT:
Bethany Khan: bkhan@culinaryunion226.org ▪ (702) 387-7088
Culinary Union raises transparency concerns regarding Virgin Las Vegas’ gaming license application during public comment at the Clark County Commission and Nevada Gaming Control Board -
LIVESTREAM from the Clark County Commission and the Nevada Gaming Control Board
Las Vegas, NV – This week, during public comment at the Clark County Commission (December 3), and at the Nevada Gaming Control Board on (December 5), the Culinary Union raised urgent questions about transparency, funding sources, and ultimate control of Virgin Las Vegas, demanding rigorous oversight in the property’s gaming license application and suitability review.
This week, Virgin Las Vegas executives Cliff Atkinson and Chad Konrad (and their company C & C 4455, LLC) are seeking to take over casino operations from Mohegan Sun. Culinary Union has urged regulators to investigate whether key individuals connected to the LiUNA Pension Fund of Central and Eastern Canada, Fengate Asset Management, and Juniper Capital exert significant influence over the property’s operations and should therefore be required to obtain gaming licenses.
“The integrity of Nevada’s gaming industry depends on rigorous oversight, and the public deserves absolute confidence in our gaming system,” said Ted Pappageorge, Secretary-Treasurer for the Culinary Union. “There are critical unanswered questions about the control and funding of Virgin Las Vegas. The Nevada Gaming Control Board must address these concerns to uphold transparency and accountability in this licensing process. Decades ago, Clark County Commissioner Robert Broadbent established a high standard for protecting the integrity of Nevada’s gaming industry. Today, we call on the Gaming Control Board to honor that legacy by ensuring clarity and rigor in reviewing Virgin Las Vegas. Why would Nevada’s gold-standard regulators not require the resort’s owners to undergo scrutiny? The public has a right to know who is truly in charge, and the Board has a responsibility to conduct thorough due diligence. Nevada’s working families and the reputation of our gaming industry depend on it.”
The Nevada Gaming Control Board’s agenda for Virgin Las Vegas’ gaming license application does not make it clear whether state regulators have asked or intend to ask key questions about the individuals leading the effort to take over the casino operations. Specifically, there is uncertainty about who these individuals ultimately answer to and how they raised the funds to acquire the casino operating company. These unresolved questions about funding and ultimate control warrant greater regulatory scrutiny to maintain public trust and confidence in Nevada’s gaming regulatory system.
The Culinary Union calls for a thorough investigation into Joseph S. Mancinelli, David D’Agostini, Lou Serafini Jr., Jay Wolf, Alex Krys, and Armand Reale to determine whether they exert significant influence over the operations at Virgin Las Vegas and should therefore be required to obtain gaming licenses. These individuals are key figures connected to the multi-billion-dollar enterprise behind the property.
Joseph S. Mancinelli and David D’Agostini serve as the board chair and CEO, respectively, of the LIUNA Pension Fund of Central and Eastern Canada, an $11 billion Laborers pension fund that is the majority owner of Virgin Las Vegas. A key question is whether Virgin Las Vegas executives Cliff Atkinson and Chad Konrad ultimately answer to Mancinelli and D’Agostini.
Further scrutiny is required into Lou Serafini Jr., CEO of Fengate Asset Management, which acts as the investment manager for the Laborers fund. Fengate manages other private funds, with up to 63% of its beneficial ownership attributed to non-U.S. persons. Questions remain about who these foreign investors are and whether they have any influence over Fengate’s decision-making processes.
Similarly, Jay Wolf and Alex Krys of Juniper Capital, both board members of the corporate entity that owns Virgin Las Vegas, warrant investigation. Juniper’s third managing director, Armand Reale, is the president of Buena Vista Development Corp. in Canada, a company that was in the news last year when it was listed as the primary developer of property for sale against regulations in Toronto’s protected Greenbelt, according to a report by Ontario’s Auditor General. However, Reale claimed he was not the owner or developer of the land, and the actual owner turned out to be a Chinese investor living in China. The ultimate Chinese owner claimed the whole matter was a “misunderstanding”.
BACKGROUND:
Nevada pays deference to billionaire institutions and individuals, which has sometimes resulted in regulatory failures or inactions:
- Station Casinos paid $38 million to settle a lawsuit by an unsuccessful casino applicant and the town in Missouri where the applicant planned to establish the casino. Nevada regulators didn’t take any action against the company, and the company sold its casinos in Missouri in 2000.
- Nevada never took away the Tropicana’s gaming license, even though its billionaire-owned parent company from 2007 to 2009 lost their gaming license in Atlantic City in 2008.
- Nevada let Deutsche Bank own a 25% stake in Stations Casinos even though a subsidiary of the bank pled guilty to a felony charge related to global interest rate manipulation in 2015.
- Nevada failed to bring a billionaire casino owner to account for sexual misconduct before the Wall Street Journal published a series of investigative reports in 2018. After Massachusetts gaming regulators began to hold the billionaire and his company accountable in 2019, Nevada finally took disciplinary action against the billionaire in late 2019.
On the other hand, Nevada has successfully investigated and found suitable billionaires and leaders of multi-billion-dollar institutions. Many wealthy individual and large institutional investors in the state’s gaming industry have subjected themselves to the state’s rigorous licensing process and obtained a gaming license:
- Billionaire owners of casino resorts on the Strip have long held Nevada gaming licenses.
- A top executive from one of the largest private equity firms applied for a gaming license and showed up for his licensing hearing when the firm bought one of the largest resorts on the Strip in 2022. He was approved for a gaming license.
- Even Deutsche Bank in 2010 sent four top executives to be licensed as board members of the entity that owned a large resort on the Strip on the bank’s behalf. Nevada was able to require the global bank to sign a letter agreement to promise not to influence these board members when it comes to gaming-related activities.
Virgin Hotels is a lifestyle hospitality brand that Sir Richard Branson's global Virgin Group has pioneered for over 50 years. Virgin Hotels Las Vegas is owned by the LiUNA Pension Fund of Eastern and Central Canada (LPFCEC), Fengate Asset Management, and Juniper Capital. LPFCEC, based in Oakville, Ontario, has over C$11 billion in assets; over 150,000 members in Ontario, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland & Labrador, and Prince Edward Island; and over 27,500 pensioners and beneficiaries. Fengate, with offices in Toronto and Houston, is a real asset and growth equity investor in North America. Juniper, headed by managing partners Jay Wolf, Alex Krys, and Armand Reale, makes direct investments in real estate and advises a variety of institutional clients with a focus on value creation. In August, Nuveen Green Capital, a subsidiary of Nuveen and a TIAA company, agreed to give Virgin Las Vegas $190 million in financing. TIAA serves non-profit institutions & their employees. Nuveen manages assets for clients including its parent company TIAA.
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ABOUT CULINARY UNION:
Culinary Workers Union Local 226 and Bartenders Union Local 165, Nevada affiliates of UNITE HERE, represent 60,000 workers in Las Vegas and Reno, including at most of the casino resorts on the Las Vegas Strip and in Downtown Las Vegas. UNITE HERE represents 300,000 workers in gaming, hotel, and food service industries in North America.
The Culinary Union, through the Culinary Health Fund, is one of the largest healthcare consumers in the state. The Culinary Health Fund is sponsored by the Culinary Union and Las Vegas-area employers. It provides health insurance coverage for over 145,000 Nevadans, the Culinary Union’s members, and their dependents.
The Culinary Union is Nevada’s largest Latinx/Black/AAPI/immigrant organization with members who come from 178 countries and speak over 40 different languages. We are proud to have helped over 18,000 immigrants become American citizens and new voters since 2001 through our affiliate, The Citizenship Project.
The Culinary Union has a diverse membership which is 55% women and 60% immigrants. The demographics of Culinary Union members are approximately: 54% Latinx, 18% white, 15% Asian, 12% Black, and less than 1% Indigenous Peoples.
Culinary Union members work as: Guest room attendants, cocktail and food servers, porters, bellmen, cooks, bartenders, laundry, and kitchen workers. The Culinary Union has been fighting and winning for working families in Nevada for 89 years.