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Complaint Filed With Sec on Station Casinos Investor Information

Lawsuit could prohibit casino gaming at Rohnert Park casino; Graton Economic Development Authority investors warned “invest at your own risk”

 

Rohnert Park, CA -- (SBWIRE) -- 08/21/2012 -- A complaint was filed yesterday with the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) challenging the information provided to investors in Station Casinos 10-Q filing with the SEC.

The complaint asserts that the 10-Q filing, dated August 14, 2012, paints an “overly-rosy picture” of the Graton Rancheria casino project and that it “attempts to trivialize the issues raised in the (current) litigation” and “fails to provide investors with adequate information”,  making it impossible for investors to understand the real risks..

Although information on the lawsuit Stop the Casino 101 v. Brown was provided, it was not mentioned by name, making it difficult for anyone to look it up.  The information on the lawsuit appeared to be purposefully vague and misleading, failing, for example, to mention that if the litigation is successful, Class III gambling would not be allowed on the site. The 10-Q  also gives the impression that the hearing on the litigation has already been held when it has not.

Station Casinos 10-Q failed to provide investors with access to the Complaint itself or a link to the document.

Although it mentioned that the invalid Rohnert Park Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was  included in the July 31, 2012 Second Amended Complaint, Station Casinos failed to reveal that the lack of a valid MOU with the City of Rohnert Park would mean that the current casino construction is illegal under the terms of the state gambling Compact.

Missing also was the fact that the National Indian Gaming Commission had declared in official documents that

the MOU does not apply to the current casino site. The lack of a valid MOU would affect the casino’s ability to acquire necessary city services such as water, street lights, road widening, etc.

“Investors in the Graton Rancheria casino are investing at their own risk if they take Station Casinos’ information at face value,” said Pastor Chip Worthington, founder of Stop the Casino 101 Coalition.  “In filing our complaint with the SEC, we hope to give investors some meaningful insight as to the true import of our litigation,”

“We’ve provided the SEC with access to the Second Amended Complaint itself, “  he said.  “Any informed investor who has examined the litigation and the gambling Compact would immediately understand that there is the potential for some real problems with this project, including the prohibition of Class III gambling on the site.”

The governor's responses to plaintiffs' initial discovery requests Stop the Casino 101 Coalition v. Governor Jerry Brown, received August 13, reveals no serious substantive response to the  claims made in the Second Amended Complaint.

Those responses were in the record in time for Wednesday’s conference call between Station Casinos, investors and the SEC, but were not, apparently, mentioned to investors by Station Casinos.

A federal lawsuit challenging the government’s decision to take the land into trust will be filed in the next few weeks.  This, too, could prohibit casino games on the Graton Rancheria trust land.