On the heels of a story we ran yesterday about the new Moulin Rouge Las Vegas which is expected to open in West Las Vegas by 2019, Moulin Rouge Holdings LLC (MRH) has delivered a press release and supporting documents claiming to “debunk” any reports of a strategic alliance with Katherine Duncan and the Ward 5 Chamber of Commerce in the development project.

It would appear the development may be headed to court before one, the other, or the two together can complete the project. The Las Vegas Review Journal spoke with Scott Johnson, president of Moulin Rouge Holdings LLC, and Katherine Duncan, president of the Ward 5 Chamber of Commerce before running a story about tensions between the parties on Friday May 27, 2016. In that article it was reported that they were willing to work together.

The documents delivered today include a letter from Kevin Hanchett, managing member of Resource Transition Consultants LLC (RTC) a company appointed by the District Court for Clark County as receiver on the property and tasked with finding a buyer. A .pdf copy of the letter, dated February 24, 2016 and addressed to Ms. Duncan as president of the Ward 5 Chamber, noted that RTC had terminated the sales agreements and retained two earnest money deposits totaling $90,000 because of the buyer’s inability to close on the deal.

Although the relationship between RTC and MRH is currently unclear, MRH states that they [are] “the only entity that can officially sell shares or equity,” in Moulin Rouge, and that any shares purchased by the public elsewhere would be “worthless”.

In late February it was reported that the property had gone into default in 2012 and that Olympic Coast Investment Inc. of Seattle was the loan service company for about 315 individual investors who owned the property. No formal name was available for the group, most of whom are from the Seattle area.

Moulin Rouge Holdings held a groundbreaking ceremony  last Tuesday for the new $100m-$150m Moulin Rouge Las Vegas located at 900 W. Bonanza Road, 61 years to the day from the maverick venue’s original opening. At the time, it was the only race-integrated hotel and casino in the country.

Scott Johnson, President of Moulin Rouge Holdings, LLC said, “We do not want to diminish the previous efforts by Duncan to bring back Moulin Rouge, but it is our understanding that Ward 5 was unable to secure the financing needed to purchase the property,” Mr. Johnson said in MRH’s press release.