Sherman Oaks, CA: In May of 2006, Geoff Nese and his wife Amy took a mortgage on their home in Orange County to invest in a condominium home at the Cosmopolitan Resort and Casino (now named the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas). Paying for a premium view facing the Bellagio fountains and a unit on the 36th floor, the Neses put down a deposit of $160,000 on a property that would be managed by the Grand Hyatt. Their sales associate assured them the unit would be completed by September 2008.
In the year that followed, as they called to check on their home, they were told their unit was now on the 15th floor and then in the next conversation, anywhere from the 15th floor to the 20th floor. In every conversation, things changed. Suddenly the Cosmopolitan's sales office closed, phones were disconnected and email correspondence went unanswered. Even the website went down. Today, four-plus years later, as a new website appears with no mention of condominium homes, Geoff Nese, along with five other individuals, has no other recourse than to go to court.
Today, in Superior Court of California in the County of Los Angeles, a complaint was filed against Deutsche Bank and their partners in the project for fraud and conversion on behalf of Geoff Nese and five other individuals. The complaint lists numerous acts of Active Concealment and Suppression of Material Facts that have taken place in the past five years and are seeking a jury trial.
"Early on I saw the red flags," said Geoff Nese. "Details about the project were changing, in addition to sales agents giving me different information about my home every time I called. Then nothing; for years, as if the property didn't exist, even though building continued. And now last week, I receive a misleading newsletter filled with more empty promises just after correspondence making demands and threatening me. Someone needs to make them live up to their word."
Others receiving the newsletter were famed poker players Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan and Daniel Negreanu who also purchased condominium homes at the Cosmopolitan.
"This isn't about the money anymore," said Brunson. "It is about the principles. Cosmo and the Deutsche Bank have misrepresented many things and to think that they won't give us our money back, plus interest, is disgraceful."
"It's been over five years since they sold me on this project and they still can't deliver," said Daniel Negreanu. "The condo I was supposed to get is now a hotel room and it won't even be delivered for another year. I didn't buy a hotel room, I paid for a condo. It's akin to paying for a Lexus and then being handed the keys to a Hyundai."
Said Johnny Chan, "If the guys calling the shots at the Cosmopolitan don't want to follow the law and return my deposit, I'd be happy to call their bluff and win it back – and then some."
"I feel like I'm a small pawn in the latest big bank scheme that has Deutsche Bank essentially stealing our life-savings through intimidation tactics," says Nese. "I sit and watch the recent publicity from their sign going up on the building and ask myself, how can they get away with that?"
In recent months, more than 200 individuals have filed numerous other complaints in both Nevada and California courts, HUD, DRE, for non-disclosures, dangerous property water hazards never disclosed prior to contract, unilateral and material changes, timeline violations, etc.
