Creditors: Casino Company Got Bad Deal

As reported by St. Louis Post- Dispatch: "A tax audit, a DUI and some charges on a credit card might be behind Columbia Sussex Corp.'s failure to secure a Missouri casino license, a group of companies claims in a court motion.

"The motion sheds light on what - or who - killed the Kentucky company's plan to buy out of bankruptcy the President Casino on the Admiral, which operates on the Mississippi riverfront downtown.

"…The motion was filed Thursday in Bankruptcy Court in St. Louis by a committee of creditors of the President Casino. It claims that Missouri Gaming Commission staff planned to advise the commission to deny Columbia Sussex a license because of four red flags.

"- An audit by the Internal Revenue Service on the 2000 federal income tax return of Chairman and Chief Executive William Yung.

"- A 'driving under the influence type' conviction of the son of a 20 percent owner of a Columbia Sussex casino in Mississippi.

"- Discrepancies surrounding Yung's residence. He "has homes in both Kentucky and Florida and has sometimes listed his residence being in Kentucky and other times in Florida."

"- Yung's practice of using his corporate charge card to buy personal items.

"….Last year, Columbia Sussex outbid Pinnacle Entertainment Inc. in an auction for the President Casino. Columbia Sussex, a privately held company that's known mostly as a hotelier, planned to buy the casino for $57 million and replace it with a new boat a few blocks south on Laclede's Landing. The negotiations with the city about the new boat were thorny at times, but a compromise was reached in September.

"Then, in a surprise move last month, Columbia Sussex backed away from the deal amid reports that the Missouri Gaming Commission was about to deny its application for a casino license…"