Casino news source: Wisconsin State Journal - http://www.madison.com
Kenosha businessman Troha withdraws casino plan
JASON STEIN
608-252-6129
jstein@madison.com
State officials Friday allowed an indicted Kenosha businessman to withdraw his firm's application for state approval to work with a proposed tribal casino in Kenosha, even as they released an investigator's blistering report on Troha's questionable dealings and mob-linked business partners.
The preliminary investigation would have been used to decide whether to approve the application by ex-trucking tycoon Dennis Troha, who was indicted in March on a fraud charge related to political donations to Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle.
The results of the 1,114-page report, which were not formally verified as fact by the state because of Troha's withdrawal, criticize Troha for alleged influence peddling, for dealing with former associates with mob ties and for failing to disclose unflattering information about his past.
The investigator had flagged, before Troha's indictment, the donations to Doyle that became the focus of the current prosecution. The report also details questionable attempts by Troha or associates to gain the support of former governor and Republican presidential candidate Tommy Thompson for proposed gaming ventures in Kenosha.
The state decided to allow Troha to drop his application, in spite of the allegations in the report, because he has sold his interest in the proposed Kenosha casino, a state official said.
"It didn't seem appropriate to continue and use more state resources when it was clear that this wasn't an entity that was going to continue to apply for this project," said Linda Barth, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Administration, which includes the Division of Gaming.
'Rumors and speculation'
Contractors like Troha who seek to do business with a tribal casino must be vetted and approved by the state to weed out those who might harm the interests of the tribes or the public.
Troha spokesman Jeff Fleming noted that the findings of the investigator were not substantiated and adopted by the state and suggested Troha might have countered many of them had he not withdrawn from the process.
"It ranges from rumor and speculation to barely more than that," Fleming said of the report. "I'm not going to go through every issue that's raised in this report and fight it out in the news media."
Division of Gaming administrator Bob Sloey, a Doyle appointee, wrote in a letter Friday to Troha's firm, Kenesah Gaming Development, that "the report does not represent conclusions drawn by the division."
If convicted, Troha faces up to 25 years in prison and a fine of up to $500,000. His lawyer has said Troha did nothing wrong.
The gaming investigation, which took more than two years to finish, was largely completed before Troha's indictment.
Shortly before that indictment, Troha said he was withdrawing from the effort to build the $808 million tribal casino in Kenosha and has since sold his interest in the project, according to project and state officials. Kenesah Gaming also withdrew the application for contractor approval from the state in February before the indictment.
The casino, which still needs separate approvals from federal officials and Doyle, could have netted Troha millions of dollars in profits.
Donations disclosed
A federal grand jury in Milwaukee indicted Troha for allegedly funneling at least $100,000 in campaign donations to Doyle through family members to avoid contribution limits on individual donations and for allegedly lying about the donations to federal investigators.
A timeline in the state gaming investigator's report dated January 2007 -- more than one month before Troha's indictment -- noted sets of donations to Doyle from Troha family members that came in the same or similar amounts on the same days. The timeline also notes meetings or phone contacts in 2003 and 2004 between Troha and Doyle's then Department of Administration secretary Marc Marotta, who oversaw the Division of Gaming.
Doyle spokesman Matt Canter said there was nothing improper about the donations or meetings. In an interview included in the report by the state's private investigator, Patrick O'Hern, Troha says the same thing.
Other findings in the report include:
That Troha had "a history of having business partners with ties to organized crime," including leading Chicago investors in the group Nii-Jii Entertainment, which was involved in a previous failed attempt to bring a casino to Kenosha.
That Troha played an important role in Nii-Jii, though he denied that. The report cites records that detail numerous contacts between Troha and representatives of former congressman Morgan Murphy Jr. of Chicago, who had alleged ties to mob figures.
That Troha or his associates engaged in questionable attempts to influence state officials such as Tommy Thompson in the 1990s in connection with previous attempts to bring a casino or dogtrack to Kenosha. One failed attempt drew the scrutiny of state criminal investigators but no charges were filed.
Thompson spokesman Tony Jewell denied any impropriety, noting that Troha's attempts at gaining approval from the Thompson administration for gaming ventures failed.
Project still alive
Evan Zeppos, a spokesman for the Kenosha casino project being carried forward by the Menominee Tribe of Wisconsin and the Mohegan Tribe of Connecticut, downplayed the importance and reliability of the report.
"(With) the fact that Dennis is no longer part of the project and that he has withdrawn his application and the report has not been proven, I guess it's just another report that's come out," Zeppos said.
Zeppos said that the remaining groups involved in the project would stand up to scrutiny. Zeppos said the Mohegan Tribe had applied for a similar certification from the state.
Mike McCabe, executive director for the clean government group Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, said the state should have denied Troha's application outright instead of allowing him to withdraw it.
"Certainly now the state should make it clear that he shouldn't be allowed anywhere near a casino operating in Wisconsin," McCabe said.
Tom Nelson, co-owner of Gaming Regulatory Consultants and a former compliance and licensing official with the Michigan Gaming Control board, said the state's action might be enough. If Troha ever applies for such an approval again, in Wisconsin or elsewhere, investigators will be aware of the state's report, he said.
"I'm not sure in this type of case there's a real substantive difference" between a denial and a withdrawal, Nelson said.
The investigator's report did not include a recommendation on whether to approve Troha's request. That's because the state late last year ended the practice of allowing investigators to make such recommendations.
DOA officials and Canter have said that the change had nothing to do with the impending report on Troha.
Barth said that the state's investigation cost $133,943 and was paid for by Troha.
Troha case update
The news: State officials allowed an indicted businessman to withdraw an application to do business with a proposed tribal casino in Kenosha.
The background: Officials also released a blistering background investigation into the questionable dealings of the ex-trucking magnate, Dennis Troha.
The reaction: A Troha spokesman said the critical report had not received a final verification from the state and was not reliable. |
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