Miami Beach Plum TV Exec, Conn. Casino Settle $1M Dispute
HARTFORD, Conn (CBS4)- A Connecticut casino and a millionaire cable TV network executive of Miami Beach have settled a dispute over a $1.2 million gambling debt, which he had fought in state courts on claims including an illegal loan deal and American Indian tribes' sovereignty.
Lawyers for the Mohegan Sun casino filed a document in state Superior Court this week saying it is withdrawing its lawsuit against Jerome "Jerry" Powers because the two sides have resolved the matter on their own. The document was obtained by The Associated Press on Thursday.
Terms of the settlement weren't disclosed.
Powers, chief executive officer of Plum TV, and his attorney, Thor Holth, didn't immediately return phone messages Thursday.
Andrew Houlding, a lawyer for Mohegan Sun, declined to say whether Powers agreed to pay the money back.
"We're just pleased that it's resolved," he said.
Powers, 65, of Miami Beach, Fla., got a $1.2 million line of credit from the casino in May 2009 and failed to pay it back after losing at the blackjack tables, according to court documents. Mohegan Sun officials had solicited him to open the credit line and to travel to the casino on the Mohegan Tribe's reservation in Uncasville.
Powers wrote six checks to the casino to pay his debt, but they were not honored by his bank, court documents say. Payment was stopped on a $465,000 check, and the others were returned because the accounts were closed, according to copies of the returned checks.
After the tribe filed a lawsuit against him in November 2009, Powers claimed that the credit line was an illegal gambling contract under Connecticut law and that state courts had no jurisdiction over the dispute because the casino, located about 45 miles southeast of Hartford, is run by the sovereign Mohegan Tribe.
In March, Powers asked the State Appellate Court to throw out a lower court's ruling that would have allowed the casino 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 is CEO of Plum TV, a lifestyle cable network that caters to the wealthy with shows about travel, entertainment, finance, food and other topics. The network is 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.
According to a story last year in The Miami Herald, Powers sold the Ocean Drive magazine he founded in 1991 for more than $33 million in late 2007. 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.
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