Crash victim’s family winds up loser in bankruptcy of millionaire’s daughter

Attorneys were once again in U.S. Bankruptcy Court Friday morning jockeying for position in the Chapter 11 case of Afroditi Janet Eliades-Ledstrom.

Thick binders of documents and deposition transcripts were lined up, and bankers boxes of material were stacked behind the lawyers representing Ledstrom, estranged sister Dolores Eliades, and various corporate entities associated with family patriarch Pete Eliades. When a personal bankruptcy is closely tied to the multimillion-dollar flesh-and-cab-company fortune of the Eliades clan, the evidence and ephemera are bound to pile up.

The Eliades family owns the Olympic Garden topless cabaret on Las Vegas Boulevard. It also owns real estate and a large percentage of the Yellow, Checker, Star taxi and limo entity. It's only rumor that it has owned its share of local politicians over the years.

Officially, Friday's hearing was a continuation of a legal skirmish before a decision is made whether to appoint a trustee or an examiner with expanded powers in the bankruptcy case in an effort to pay Ledstrom's creditors.

With all the legal rhetoric and paperwork, you'd almost be excused for not remembering Ledstrom's biggest creditor, Michael Ponzio.

Or, at least Ponzio's family.

Michael Ponzio was killed March 17, 2007, in a collision with a car driven by Ledstrom. She was traveling the wrong direction on Interstate 215 at the time. Ponzio died at the scene, and Nevada Highway Patrol troopers who rolled on the call suspected she had been driving under the influence. Against improbable odds, she was never tried criminally.

Ledstrom wasn't as fortunate in the civil case, which was decided in the Ponzio family's favor and resulted in a judgment that with interest and attorney's fees is now more than $11.5 million.

Not that Ledstrom has started paying it. Instead of making good on the civil debt, the daughter of a wealthy topless bar and cab company boss appealed the judgment and then filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization.

Just 104 days before swearing her bankruptcy filing was true and accurate under penalty of perjury, Ledstrom filed an uncontested divorce action with her husband, James Ledstrom.

Divorces can be messy things, but the Ledstroms appear to be getting along swimmingly. They still live together. In fact, neither party ever bothered to move out of their multimillion-dollar marital residence at 1545 Villa Rica in Henderson. (The 2007 purchase price: $2.59 million.)

The Ledstroms also used the same attorney for their divorce. The action was so amicable that according to deposition testimony the Ledstroms haven't even bothered to tell their children or their close friends about the divorce.

The official end of the marriage did create some changes, though. For one, ex-husband James received "all of the couple's easily liquidated non-exempt property," Ponzio estate attorneys Lenard Schwartzer and Jeanette McPherson wrote in their motion seeking the appointment of a trustee in the bankruptcy action. As you might imagine, it's an impressive list.

It includes $750,000 in cash, a house at 1759 Crystal Stream, 2 acres in Jean, and a 2005 Lamborghini, a 2006 Lamborghini, a 2007 GMC Yukon, a 2011 Dodge Ram 3500 truck, and a 2000 Tracker Nitro 929 boat.

Ledstrom once owned a fancy 2006 Porsche SUV, but she ruined it when she slammed into Ponzio's Honda.

Although the ex-husband hasn't departed the marital home, under the divorce decree he still receives $2,000 per month for child support. And if the Villa Rica home is sold, he receives half the net proceeds despite the fact it's his ex-wife's "sole and separate property."

My, that is generous.

Such things are also textbook signs of a sham divorce, what attorneys in the bankruptcy trade call "badges of fraud" evidence. The Schwartzer-McPherson motion lays out plentiful facts. Although attorneys spent Friday morning firing at witnesses and each other, there's little doubt the Ledstrom bankruptcy reeks of fakery and is in need of an experienced trustee.

Denied justice in one court, the Ponzio family now awaits justice in another.

John L. Smith's column appears Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. Email him at Smith@reviewjournal.com or call 702-383-0295.
He also blogs at lvrj.com/blogs/smith.
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