Don Kornstein, former chairman of the board of Las Vegas-based Affinity Gaming, resigned from the company last week. Kornstein was an active board member at the time of the announcement.
In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Affinity said, “Mr. Kornstein submitted his resignation to pursue other opportunities; his resignation was not in connection with any disagreement with Affinity, any of our executive officers, or on any matter relating to our operations, policies or practices.”
Kornstein was named chairman of Affinity after the company was founded in December 2010, following the bankruptcy reorganization of Herbst Gaming, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.
He was replaced in July by Richard Parisi, a senior investment professional with hedge fund Silver Point Capital, formerly Affinity’s largest shareholder, owning 24.9 percent of the company.
Z Capital now owns 30.5 percent of Affinity. In 2012, Z CEO Jim Zenni expressed his displeasure with a $300,000 payment from the board to its chairman. Kornstein was compensated for negotiating a three-way asset exchange with Golden Gaming and JETT Gaming, the Review-Journal reported. Affinity did not use an outside adviser in the deal.
And last year, Zenni attempted to take over the company by buying all its outstanding shares, and also proposed his own candidates for the Affinity board. Affinity owns six casinos in Nevada plus properties in Iowa, Colorado and Missouri.
