Company owes Strip casino-hotel $1.9M over canceled event, lawsuit alleges

A Strip property is suing a California-based media management company for allegedly failing to pay the resort over $1 million in cancellation fees for a conference space, hotel suites and other amenities.

The Venetian Resort filed a lawsuit against QTLST Management and its CEO Shawn Copeland on three counts of breach of contract, fraud and unjust enrichment after he allegedly failed to pay the resort over $1.9 million in cancellation fees after he failed to pay his deposits on time. Venetian filed the lawsuit in the Clark County District Court on Tuesday.

The Venetian didn’t respond to a request for comment. QTLST and Copeland couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.

Shawn Copeland, acting as the “alter-ego” of QTLST, was contracted with the resort to hold the “QTLST World Media Week” from July 26 to Aug. 2, according to the lawsuit. Copeland and the Venetian both signed the contract on May 7, 2024.

“QTLST reserved 1,535 hotel rooms per night for four consecutive nights (from July 28, 2025, through and including July 31, 2025), as well as twenty-five (25) suites for July 26, 2025, thirty (30) suites for July 27, 2025, and twenty-five (25) suites for August 1, 2025,” said the lawsuit.

Additionally, he agreed to pay the $500,000 food and beverage minimum, exclusive of taxes, and reserved multiple meeting and boardrooms for the event, said the lawsuit.

Copeland would pay in three installments, with the initial deposit of $229,200 due on June 10, 2024, according to the contract, which was included in the lawsuit. If he failed to pay any of the deposits by the contracted date, the event would be subject to cancellation and Copeland would have to pay a cancellation fee of $1,946,000, to which he signed off on in the contract.

When Copeland failed to pay the initial deposit, Venetian sent him an invoice on Oct. 30, 2024 about his past due deposit, alerting him that he was subject to cancellation if he did not pay by Oct. 31, 2024, according to an exhibit in the lawsuit.

Still not receiving payment, Venetian officially cancelled the event on Nov. 2, 2024, according to a “Cancellation Adjustment Form” included in the lawsuit filing.

Venetian sent him two follow-up letters and invoices on Nov. 10, 2024, and Dec. 16, 2024, for the over $1.9 million cancellation fee, stated the filings.

Venetian is asking for all amounts due in the contract; ongoing interest on the unpaid balance, including post-judgment interest, until paid at the contractual rate of 18 percent per annum; all costs and disbursements of suit; all reasonable and incurred attorneys’ fees; and anything else deemed reasonable.

Contact Emerson Drewes at edrewes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @EmersonDrewes on X.