Barkley has yet to pay casino debt

[tallahassee blues fan]

Prosecutor, casino: Barkley still hasn't paid $440,000 debt





LAS VEGAS -- Charles Barkley insists the check is in the mail, but a Nevada prosecutor and a Las Vegas Strip casino want the retired NBA star to show them the money.
"He hasn't paid, and he hasn't contacted anyone at the casino or the DA's office," Deputy Clark County District Attorney Bernie Zadrowski said Tuesday. Zadrowski leads the bad-check unit handling the $400,000 gambling debt Barkley owes to the Wynn Las Vegas resort.
"We don't have any facts that would cause us to drop our lawsuit," said Jennifer Dunne, spokeswoman for the casino, which filed a civil complaint May 14 in Nevada state court alleging Barkley failed to repay four $100,000 casino markers, or loans, received last Oct. 18 and 19.
Barkley, a Turner Network Television basketball analyst, said during a pre-game show Monday that he was to blame for the gambling debt, and said the money had been paid.
"I screwed up and didn't pay them in a significant amount of time," Barkley said. "Could they have handled it differently? Yes. But it was my fault."
The 45-year-old Barkley also said he would stop gambling, at least for a while.
"For right now, the next year or two, I'm not going to gamble," he said. "Just because I can afford to lose money doesn't mean I should do it."
TNT spokesman Jeff Pomeroy said in an e-mail that a check was sent Monday by overnight delivery to the Wynn Las Vegas collections department. Pomeroy said he expected it would arrive Tuesday. He did not immediately respond to questions.
Barkley owes $440,000, Zadrowski said, because the district attorney's restitution policy adds a 10 percent fee to resolve a civil complaint.
Zadrowski said the district attorney's office mailed Barkley a demand for payment the day the Wynn complaint was filed. Barkley must respond by June 9, the prosecutor said, and could have up to six months to pay.
District Attorney David Roger had promised to file four felony theft or four bad check charges if Barkley didn't pay up. Each theft conviction could carry a penalty of one to 10 years in state prison. A felony bad check conviction could bring one to four years.
Barkley played 16 NBA seasons for the Philadelphia 76ers, Phoenix Suns and Houston Rockets, and played on the USA Olympic "Dream Team" in 1992 and 1996. He was an 11-time NBA All-Star and was league MVP in 1993.
He has talked openly about his gambling, estimating during a May 2006 interview with ESPN that he'd gambled away about $10 million over the years.
Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press

[tallahassee blues fan]

District Attorney David Roger had promised to file four felony theft or four bad check charges if Barkley didn't pay up. Each theft conviction could carry a penalty of one to 10 years in state prison. A felony bad check conviction could bring one to four years.

If he did, and I were Barkley, I'd sue him and the casino for malicious prosecution.

[210]

If he did, and I were Barkley, I'd sue him and the casino for malicious prosecution.

Presuming he actually paid, of course...

[tallahassee blues fan]

No, whether he pays or not. This is a pretty sick use of the DA's office to collect a debt, and Barkley didn't commit a crime.

[210]

No, whether he pays or not. This is a pretty sick use of the DA's office to collect a debt, and Barkley didn't commit a crime.

When someone loans you money and you don't pay them back, that's fraud...and last time I checked, that was a crime.

[tallahassee blues fan]

Nope, it's not. You do recall that debtors' prisons don't exist anymore?

[slow groove]

...estimating during a May 2006 interview with ESPN that he'd gambled away about $10 million over the years.

Love Barkley. Stupid waste, however.

[210]

Nope, it's not. You do recall that debtor's prisons don't exist anymore?

Go down to a bank and take out a loan, and then don't pay it back.

Let us know how that works out for you.

[tallahassee blues fan]

You ain't going to prison.

[210]

You ain't going to prison.

Like I said, let us know how it turns out.

[kennyboyerfan]

Like I said, let us know how it turns out.

He's right. Here's how it turns out: You don't pay, they take you to court, the judge finds in their favor, the bank can then try to garnish your check, at which point you can declare bankruptcy. Unless there was intentional fraud involved -- which is very hard to prove -- about the worse that can happen is that they can go after your paycheck.

If you're willing to declare bankruptcy, you can actually take the bank for quite a bit of cash. It helps, though, if you don't make all that much -- they can go after some of it if you do.

[MsFunkay]

Love Barkley. Stupid waste, however.

would love to see how much he & MJ have wasted at tables. however, just like so many other things, gambling can be a serious addiction. for barkley as long as its out in the open maybe he can get some help for it.

[kennyboyerfan]

P.S. I don't know if Nevada law considers casino markers to be the same as checks. You can get in trouble for writing bad checks, but again, it's difficult to prove you did it to intentionally fraud the business.

[Moon Man]

I seem to recall an interview with Barkley some time ago where he said he didn't have a gambling problem. He said people who gamble more than they can pay have a problem, while he is able to pay his gambling debts.

Got a 'problem' now, Chuck?

Moon

[tallahassee blues fan]

Here's the case:

Barkley's being accused of writing hot checks. Hot check laws are anti-fraud laws and, in order to have fraud occur, a person has to make a false representation that someone materially relies on to his or her detriment. (Nevada's Supreme Court has actually made this determination with regard to its hot check laws - it's not enough that a person gave another person a nsf check) The casino has provided evidence/sworn statements to the DA that it relied on Barkley's checks to part with cash advances that he used for gambling.

Problem is, it didn't.

Barkley filled out a line of credit application for those markers. He was granted that line, which means the casino's agreed to give him a loan. Their decision to give him that loan (and the amount of the line) were not determined by his check, but by the determination of his creditworthiness and his past payment history (and maybe even his celebrity pull). When the casino gave him the markers, they weren't relying on the checks. Therefore, no fraud, and no criminal violation.

The casino will argue that it did rely on the check for the marker because it made Barkley sign one each time he got a marker. Problem is, that would make the agreement a check cashing agreement, not a line of credit.

I had a friend who experienced this same problem in Vegas. What pisses me off about this is that the casino is using the DA to collect its debt through the threat of a bogus criminal action, when there's a civil process that is available to them. They just don't want to be like every other creditor not associated with the mob and have to go through the process.

If I were Barkley I'd say that the DA and the casino know better. The affidavits/sworn statements are known false representations about his relationship with the casino, and any criminal action based on it is malicious prosecution. I'd like his case.