A millionaire cable TV network executive who settled a lawsuit by a Connecticut casino over an unpaid $1.2 million gambling debt this week has also reached deals in similar disputes with casinos in Atlantic City and Las Vegas, according to court records obtained by The Associated Press on Thursday.
Plum TV chief executive Jerome "Jerry" Powers racked up debts at the Mohegan Sun in Connecticut, Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City and the Bellagio in Las Vegas and was accused of failing to pay them back. In an interview Thursday, he wouldn't discuss details of the disputes or settlements, but said he was glad to put the cases behind him.
"It was a chapter. It was closed. Everybody's paid, and I'm really happy about it," said Powers, 65, of Miami Beach, Fla.
Plum TV is a cable network that caters to the wealthy with shows about travel, entertainment, finance, food and other topics. It's on cable systems in Aspen, Vail and Telluride in Colorado, the Hamptons in New York, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket in Massachusetts, Miami Beach, and Sun Valley, Idaho.
Powers sold the Ocean Drive magazine he founded in 1991 for more than $33 million in late 2007, according to a story in The Miami Herald last year. Powers told the New York Post earlier in 2007 that he and Ocean Drive Media had a five-year, $20 million magazine deal with billionaire Donald Trump, but declined to disclose the details.
A Plum TV spokesman, Robbie Vorhaus, said the network's board continues to strongly support Powers.
Mohegan Sun, about 45 miles southeast of Hartford, dropped its lawsuit against Powers on Wednesday after the two sides reached an out-of-court settlement. Terms weren't disclosed. Casino lawyers said Powers received a $1.2 million line of credit in May 2009 and failed to pay it back after losing money at blackjack tables.
Earlier this month, Powers resolved a lawsuit by the Trump Taj Mahal over a $1 million line of credit he got a month before the Mohegan Sun loan. He also settled a breach of contract lawsuit by the Bellagio earlier this year. Terms of those deals weren't disclosed, and more details of the Bellagio case weren't immediately available.
Spokesmen at Trump Taj Mahal and the Bellagio didn't return phone messages Thursday.
In the Connecticut and Atlantic City cases, both casinos accused Powers of signing agreements for lines of credit and later writing checks to the casinos that bounced. In the Mohegan Sun case, casino officials accused Powers of stopping payment on a $465,000 check, while other checks were returned because the accounts were closed.
Trump Taj Mahal lawyers alleged in their lawsuit that Powers wrote four checks totaling just over $1 million to the casino to repay the line of credit there. Those checks also bounced, and the lawsuit claims Powers knew there wasn't enough money in his accounts to cover the payments.
Powers had fought the Mohegan Sun lawsuit, arguing that the credit line was an illegal gambling contract and that state courts had no jurisdiction over a gambling dispute on the reservation of the sovereign Mohegan Tribe, which runs the casino.
In March, Powers asked the Connecticut Appellate Court to throw out a lower court's ruling that would have allowed Mohegan Sun to seize his assets ahead of a potential final judgment against him. The appeal remains pending, but is expected to be dismissed because of the settlement.
Powers' lawyers in all three casino cases didn't return phone messages Thursday.
A Mohegan Sun spokeswoman referred questions to the casino's lawyer, Andrew Houlding.
"We're just pleased that it's resolved," Houlding said before declining further comment.