A bad land deal in Henderson

Heavens, who could have seen this coming?

On Monday, the city of Henderson filed a lawsuit against Chris Milam, complaining the controversial Texas developer never planned to build a pro sports complex in Henderson - that he instead was scheming with associates all along to get a sweetheart land deal so he could flip the former BLM property for housing lots.

The lawsuit alleges Mr. Milam and four associates used the city to win a bid on 480 acres of federal land that he conspired to sell "piecemeal to residential and commercial developers at a substantial profit."

One of the four other named respondents is Michael Ford, a former Bureau of Land Management official who worked for both Mr. Milam and the city on the federal land deal.

"At the surface, it sounds like a conflict of interest," Clark County Commissioner Steve Sisolak said Wednesday of Mr. Ford's dual paychecks.

Mr. Milam first approached the city in June 2011 about a plan to build a massive complex featuring four sports venues at the south end of the Strip including an arena for NBA or NHL games; a baseball park; and a stadium for football and soccer.

The city raced to the altar. In September 2011, it nominated Mr. Milam to buy the BLM land, effectively endorsing his sports complex plan.

Mr. Milam paid the BLM $10.5 million for the land, which is still in escrow.

But by mid-November 2012, the city received information from residential developers that Mr. Milam and "confederates" were marketing the land to third parties for single-family residential use, the lawsuit contends.

In its court filing, the city alleges "Milam is a man with a troubled past, and is no stranger to fraud."

Who wronged whom will now be determined in court, presumably, as even Mr. Milam's attorney now appears to be siding with the city. But of more immediate concern to Henderson voters may be the conduct of the elected officials of the city of Henderson.

The Henderson City Council actually believed this fellow was going to build a sports complex to rival New Jersey's Meadowlands at the south end of the Strip, in the midst of the worst economic slowdown in generations?

If Mr. Milam is "no stranger to fraud," as they now allege, did they get in bed with a known fraudster, or were they in such a rush that they entered into all these dealings without performing any due diligence?

It's not as though they had no warning - in November 2011, Review-Journal reporter Ben Spillman had no trouble finding court documents that portrayed Mr. Milam as a man whose misleading financial statements and double-dealing torpedoed a $1.2 billion high-rise condominium project near the Strip in 2005.

That dispute led to a $1.1 million fraud judgment against Milam. There was even a 2010 lawsuit seeking to repossess Mr. Milam's 2005 Mercedes sedan over a sum of $40,000.

But the City Council had no problem with Mr. Milam - nor with Mr. Ford being on his payroll as well as theirs?

About the only good news here is that the deal collapsed so early, instead of leaving Henderson with a partially built development rusting in the sun.

Hoboes used to have secret marks they'd leave on a fence, indicating the lady of the house represented an easy meal for a guy with a good story. They must be lining up outside Henderson City Hall, about now.