Former Seeno company president sues three family members

In the latest flurry of Seeno-related legal troubles, a second executive from the family's failed Nevada company sued three members of the family and their associates this week, accusing them of racketeering involving such criminal activities as extortion, tax fraud, and mail and wire fraud.

Bradley Mamer, the former president and CEO of Wingfield Nevada Group, a company founded by former Nevada lobbyist Harvey Whittemore and eventually co-owned by two Seeno brothers, sued former bosses Albert Seeno Jr., Albert Seeno III, Thomas Seeno, Michael Ghiorso and Kevin McCauley on Wednesday in a Nevada federal court, asking for more than $500,000 in damages.

The lawsuit paints an unflattering portrait of Albert Seeno Jr. and Albert Seeno III -- who have operated a Concord-based group of development and contracting companies for decades -- and their actions as their Nevada business venture imploded during the housing market collapse.

Mamer makes numerous claims, including threats of violence, environmental malfeasance and federal tax violations. Many of those claims came to light in a separate Feb. 1 federal lawsuit filed by Whittemore, who accused the father-and-son Seenos of racketeering, extortion, grand larceny and making threats.

Days earlier, the Seenos had sued Whittemore, then a friend of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, alleging Whittemore embezzled and misappropriated tens of millions of dollars from their joint company.

As

those two cases inch forward, the FBI -- which along with other federal agencies raided the Seeno's Concord headquarters in February 2010 -- continues to investigate potential mortgage fraud. A home sales executive has already been indicted, and prosecutors said they expect more arrests in the fall.

Calls and emails to the Mamer and Seeno attorneys were not returned Wednesday.

'Lawless'

Mamer, who served Wingfield and a predecessor for 17 years, claimed that once Seeno Jr. and his son came on board, the company -- which spearheaded a massive development project in the Nevada desert called Coyote Springs -- was "turned into a lawless and hostile environment by the defendants through a pattern of racketeering activity."

The first sign of trouble, Mamer said, was Feb. 19, 2010, the day after the FBI, IRS and Secret Service raided the Seenos' Concord office. Larry Gunderson, CFO for Thomas Seeno, issued an email to Wingfield's bankers, owners and executives -- including Mamer -- saying, "Albert told Tom that he thought they were investigating mortgage loans."

By April 2010, Albert Seeno Jr., became disgruntled with his Wingfield investment, and that July he and his son took over its management, Mamer said.

Among the allegations in Mamer's suit:

On Aug. 20, 2010, in a "clandestine-like manner," Seeno III had an information technology director remove company computer servers from Mamer's and Whittemore's homes. Seeno III ordered the IT director to enter Whittemore's house without consent or be fired, and he did. He was still fired shortly after.

At a closed-door meeting in October 2010, Seeno III threatened Mamer by saying, "Brad, the 'Seeno Way' is to bend someone over a saw horse and (expletive) them. ... We (expletive) everyone!"

On Feb. 25, 2011, Seeno III ordered Mamer to physically threaten Whittemore if a lease payment was not made by BrightSource, a Wingfield tenant and solar power plant operator. Seeno III also told Mamer to tell the BrightSource representative that if they "did not make the lease payment on time, that he would hire the highest-priced environmental attorney in San Francisco, secretly align himself with an environmental group and shut down the Ivanpah job site for at least three years!"

The Ivanpah solar power generation site was the largest in the country at the time and awaiting a $1.6 billion federal loan guarantee.

Taxes

In early 2011, Mamer claimed McCauley, the Seeno construction company's CFO, discussed with him taking an estimated $25 million federal tax deduction from the failed capital investment, the PGA Village at Coyote Springs.

McCauley directed Mamer to "develop a historical factual pattern that supported these deductions being shifted from tax year 2009 the year in which the PGA Licensing Agreement was terminated) to tax year 2010," the suit claims. Mamer said the shift would violate federal tax laws.

On Aug. 17, 2011, Mamer was instructed to work on a tax project related to Coyote Springs planned as a "massive fraudulent misrepresentation claim" against Whittemore, saying Seeno Jr. was not made aware that the project value was gone when he bought into Wingfield, Mamer said.

Environment

The Seenos, with their history of California environmental fines, skirted regulations in Nevada, too, Mamer claimed. In October 2010, Mamer said he witnessed unpermitted septic system installations at Coyote Springs and reported it to Nevada regulators, who are investigating.

The following year, Mamer said he advised the Seenos and senior Wingfield staff members of a series of Coyote Springs environmental permit violations. He estimated more than $1.3 million in fees were owed, in addition to indirect violations. Nothing was done, he said.

On June 10, 2011, Mamer alerted the Seenos to an Endangered Species Act violation related to a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permit issued in regard to the desert tortoise. Compliance would have cost $125,000 and was never done, he said.

Contact Matthias Gafni at 925-952-5026. Follow him at Twitter.com/mgafni.

Who's who in Seeno scandal
As the Seeno family and current and former associates appear in more and more litigation, sorting out who's who can be difficult.
Here are those listed in Wednesday's lawsuit:
Plaintiff: Bradley Mamer, of Clark County, Nev., worked for 17 years in Wingfield Nevada Group and its predecessor company. He rose to CEO and president, and now is suing his former bosses.
Defendant: Albert Seeno Jr., 68, of Clayton, owns interests in numerous Nevada casinos and California development and construction companies. Seeno Jr., his brother and son own companies worth in excess of $4 billion and the collective net worth of the trio as individuals is between $100 million and $2 billion, according to a lawsuit.
Defendant: Albert Seeno III, 38, of Pittsburg, is the son of Albert Jr. and has pieces of companies similar to what his father owns.
Defendant: Thomas Seeno, 73, of Alamo, is the older brother of Albert Jr. and went into business with Harvey Whittemore in 2004 to become part owner of Wingfield Nevada Group.
Defendant: Michael Ghiorso, 59, of Dublin, is Wingfield Nevada Group's director of operations and in 2008 was fined $60,000 by the state insurance commissioner and denied a license, according to the suit.
Defendant: Kevin McCauley, a licensed CPA, is the CFO of Albert D. Seeno Construction.

Online
Read a copy of the lawsuit at ContraCostaTimes.com.

Source: http://www.contracostatimes.com/news/ci_21064075/former-seeno-company-president-sues-three-family-members?source=rss_emailed

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