Judge awards Las Vegas real estate company $2.2B

A Clark County judge awarded a $2.2 billion judgment this week to a Las Vegas real estate investment firm, according to court records.

The decision against investor Raymond Ngan and his companies, which District Judge Kenneth Cory called “fairly breathtaking,” came in a lawsuit filed in June by First 100 LLC, a company that deals in homeowner association liens.

In 2015, Ngan made a series of agreements to back First 100 financially and provided a bank statement showing a worth of nearly $5 billion, according to the lawsuit.

Ngan reneged on the contracts and repeatedly ignored the lawsuit, which led to Cory’s ruling.

“This court bent over to give defendants every possible opportunity to participate in this case by complying with the orders and rules of the court,” Cory wrote. “Unfortunately, defendants have repeatedly failed to comply with those orders. … Defendants have repeatedly violated the orders of the court as well as refused to appear for depositions and participate in discovery in good faith, all of which clearly (is) evidence (of) defendants’ disinterest in actually having this matter adjudicated on the merits.”

In a hearing last week, the judge called the dollar figure “fairly mind-boggling for more plebeian individuals such as myself,” adding that he took “great pause” in contemplating the decision. Ngan was present for that proceeding, when the judge asked for his version of the agreement with First 100.

“I’m trying to cover two years worth of conversations into a one-minute explanation or response,” Ngan said, according to transcripts. The judge stopped him before he continued.

Lawyers for First 100 said in a statement that they were pleased with the judge’s finding.

“The court’s ruling was a win not only for First 100, its investors and clients, but also for homeowners who could benefit from First 100’s services,” the statement read.“As a result of Raymond Ngan’s intentional and malicious refusal to fulfill his contractual commitment as an exclusive investor, First 100 was prohibited from raising additional capital and expanding its business, which would have inevitably helped communities in Nevada and beyond.”

Ngan’s lawyer, Elliot Blut, declined to comment when reached Thursday.

Attorney Terry Coffing, whose firm Marquis Aurbach Coffing represents HOA clients and has defended against First 100, anticipated that the Nevada Supreme Court will rule on the case.

The decision is “interesting cocktail fodder because of the size of the numbers,” Coffing said. “But it won’t affect you or me buying or selling a house any time soon.”

He also said the judgment is unlikely to be paid out.

“Once you start talking about those numbers, it just doesn’t matter,” Coffing said. “There’s very few people in the world who are collectible at that level.”

Contact David Ferrara at dferrara@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-1039. Follow @randompoker on Twitter.