Betfair Official Blog

Nous Accusons...

HOW about this for an opening line: "The tribe accuses..."

Or nous accusons, as Emile Zola, the great French novelist might have put it.

And what story gives gull throat to this opening line? Why, the news of a rift between the Rumsey Band of Wintun Indians and the lawyer who, as the Los Angeles Times puts it, "led them out of poverty" - and into the promised land of video roulette.

"This lawsuit is about greed and betrayal," says the document, filed in Yolo County Superior Court. The tribe accuses one Howard Dickstein, and former investment consultant Arlen Opper and real estate developer Mark Friedman, of siphoning off tens of millions of dollars of its money.

The suit alleges that Dickstein used the tribe's plane for personal trips to the south of France and Grand Prix events in Monte Carlo and Montreal. The tribe says he owes them $1.2 million.

Greed is a terrible thing. To be accused of it more so. To be accused of it by a tribe that boasts at full stretch 22 members and who operate the Cache Creek Indian Bingo and Casino, Sacramento, is newsworthy.

Twenty years ago when Dickstein began working with the tribe, it was running a bingo game out of a "flimsy structure" and had less than $100,000 in the bank.

Says Dickestein: "When they terminated our services, the tribe had a net worth in excess of a billion dollars and a casino that's making over $300 million a year," Dickstein said. "Their return was just phenomenal."

"It's just an attempt to hurt my reputation," he said. "It's very hurtful and disappointing."

We are disinclined to comment on a matter sub judicae, and only say that if "the tribe" were after us, we'd be more than disappointed. We'd be far, far away...