MGM Resorts has agreed to a settlement with the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement stemming from a decade-old case as it seeks to regain its casino license in the state.
The settlement between MGM Resorts, Los Angeles-based Tracinda Corp., and the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement was made in July and recently announced by the company.
The settlement covers a case involving Los Angeles attorney Terry Christensen, a former MGM board member and a legal confidant to MGM founder Kirk Kerkorian.
According to the DGE, MGM consulted with Christensen on company matters following the lawyer’s 2006 resignation from the company’s board and after a criminal conviction.
MGM Resorts agreed to pay $150,000 while Tracinda will pay $75,000 in lieu of a formal complaint being filed by the DGE.
“MGM and Tracinda have agreed to pay in recognition of the seriousness of the failures to address Christensen’s ongoing and continued involvement in their affairs following first his indictment and then his conviction,” wrote DGE Chairman David Rebuck in a letter posted to the MGM website.
Christensen and private investigator Anthony Pellicano were indicted and charged in 2006 with tapping the phone of Kerkorian’s ex-wife, Lisa Bonder Kerkorian, in 2002. They were convicted in a criminal trial and sentenced to federal prison.
MGM officials called the settlement “part of the process of cleaning up some old items.”
MGM Resorts is expected to appear in front of the New Jersey Casino Control Commission next month to seek reinstatement of its gaming license. The company left the state in 2010 after the DGE sought to have MGM sever ties with its Macau business partner, Pansy Ho.
MGM Resorts then placed its 50 percent ownership of the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa into trust and attempted to sell its share. No sale was ever made.
