LAS VEGAS -- Prominent Las Vegas defense attorney John Momot has filed a massive lawsuit against a family of restaurant owners for allegedly defrauding him of more than $500,000.
The business relationship between Momot and Dennis Mastro, one of the parties named in the dispute, stretches back to the early 80's.
Mastro was denied a gaming license in Nevada because of dubious associations and was subsequently convicted of racketeering in Newark, New Jersey, despite the best efforts of his one-time attorney Oscar Goodman.
Read the complaint
After Mast served 18 months in a federal penitentiary, he started soliciting friends for money to develop a golf operation in Arizona. Momot put up $500,000 but later found out Mastro had greatly exaggerated the viability of the golf development. However, Mastro and his brothers Jeff and Michael, did eventually put together a successful string of eateries in Arizona and California, with plans to expand into Las Vegas.
Momot says the brothers have used a complicated set of ever-shifting corporate entities to hide their true profits from investors, including himself, and have siphoned unknown sums from the restaurants.
The lawsuit was filed on Momot's behalf by attorney Marc Cook.
