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Thursday, December 10, 2009
LAS VEGAS -- During a year-long gambling binge at the Caesars Palace and Rio casinos in 2007, Terrance Watanabe managed to lose nearly $127 million.
The run is believed to be one of the biggest losing streaks by an individual in Las Vegas history. It devoured much of Mr. Watanabe's personal fortune, he says, which he built up over more than two decades running his family's party-favor import business in Omaha, Neb. It also benefitted the two casinos' parent company, Harrah's Entertainment Inc., which derived about 5.6% of its Las Vegas gambling revenue from Mr. Watanabe that year.
View Full ImagePeter McCollough for The Wall Street Journal
Terrance Watanabe, 52, is believed to have the biggest losing streak in Las Vegas history, losing $127 million dollars in one year. Mr. Watanabe, who now lives in the Bay Area, stands near the entrance to Stanford University on Dec. 3, 2009.
Today, Mr. Watanabe and Harrah's are fighting over another issue: whether the casino company bears some of the responsibility for his losses.
In a civil suit filed in Clark County District Court last month, Mr. Watanabe, 52 years old, says casino staff routinely plied him with liquor and pain medication as part of a systematic plan to keep him gambling.
Nevada's Gaming Control Board has opened a separate investigation into whether Harrah's violated gambling regulations, based on allegations made by Mr. Watanabe.
In April, the Clark County District Attorney's office charged Mr. Watanabe with four felony counts in district court for intent to defraud and steal from Harrah's, stemming from $14.7 million that the casino says it extended to him as credit, and that he lost. Although Mr. Watanabe has paid nearly $112 million to Harrah's, he has refused to pay the rest. He denies the charges, alleging that the casino reneged on promises to give him cash back on some losses, and encouraged him to gamble while intoxicated. If convicted, Mr. Watanabe faces up to 28 years in prison.
Jan Jones, Harrah's senior vice president for communications and government relations, says Mr. Watanabe's civil suit and his defense against the criminal charges are attempts to get out of paying a debt and to avoid accepting responsibility for his own actions. "Mr. Watanabe is a criminal defendant who faces imprisonment," Ms. Jones says. "All of his statements need to be seen in that light."
Several former and current Harrah's employees say their managers told them to let Mr. Watanabe continue betting while he was visibly intoxicated, even though casino rules and state law stipulate that anyone who is clearly drunk shouldn't be allowed to gamble. These employees say they were afraid they would be fired if they did anything to discourage Mr. Watanabe from gambling at the casinos.
View Full ImageCourtesy of Watanabe Family
Mr. Watanabe made his fortune running the party-favor business he inherited from his father, Harry.
Ms. Jones says company policy is to ask intoxicated gamblers to refrain from gambling. She says Harrah's has conducted an internal investigation into how its staff treated Mr. Watanabe but declined to release details because of the ongoing litigation.
Mr. Watanabe declined to be interviewed for this article. His lawyer, Pierce O'Donnell, says Harrah's "preyed" on Mr. Watanabe's condition. But he says his client also acknowledges that he "drank to excess." Mr. Watanabe "takes full responsibility for his condition at the time....He's not saying the devil made me do it."
Luring the 'Whales'
Mr. Watanabe's situation illustrates the often-uneasy relationships casinos have with their biggest clients, also known as "whales." Casinos vie to lure these high rollers by doling out luxury suites, use of private jets, and a cadre of personal handlers to fulfill every flight of fancy, from wire transfers to fishing trips to Alaska.
Analysts say competition for this group has become especially fierce because the portion of revenue from big-spending clients appears to be increasing amid a downturn in overall gambling. Part of that analysis is based on revenue from baccarat, a high-stakes game favored by high rollers. Baccarat play on the Las Vegas Strip grew to 14.7% of gambling revenue in the last 12 months from 13% during the same period in 2007, according to state gaming regulators. Revenue from all gambling on the Strip over the same period has declined 19.1%.
But casino operators often struggle to manage high rollers. Some are compulsive gamblers whose losses -- and lives -- can quickly spiral out of control. In some instances, gamblers have tried to turn the blame around on casinos in civil suits. Such attempts are rarely, if ever, successful, experts say.
In 1993, former Philadelphia Eagles owner Leonard Tose failed to convince a jury in a civil suit against Hollywood Casino Corp. that employees of the casino had gotten him so drunk that he didn't know what he was doing when he gambled away millions in Atlantic City, N.J. As a result, he had to pay the casino $1.23 million in gambling debt. He died in 2003.
Nevada treats unpaid gambling debt as a criminal matter handled by the District Attorney's bad-checks unit. Most defendants agree to pay the debt through a payment plan before charges are filed, with around 10% tacked on to fund the D.A. unit. Clark County, which encompasses Las Vegas, prosecutes roughly 200 cases involving gambling debts a month, says Bernie Zadrowski, who runs the bad-checks unit.
View Full ImageThe Omaha World-Herald
Mr. Watanabe at an Oriental Trading Company office in Ralston, Neb., in August 1995
Just as in civil cases, people with alleged unpaid debts sometimes try to get out of criminal charges by claiming that casinos had a hand in keeping them intoxicated. Although Mr. Zadrowski declined to comment specifically on Mr. Watanabe's case, he says this kind of defense never works in criminal court: "Uniformly, the rule is nobody made you drunk."
State regulators have the authority to fine casinos for letting people gamble who are visibly intoxicated, but such fines haven't been levied, says Brian Duffrin, executive secretary to the Nevada Gaming Control Board and the Nevada Gaming Commissions.
Still, casinos will sometimes bar gamblers who are behaving erratically or whom they suspect won't pay their debts. "It almost becomes a cost-benefit decision," says Glenn Christenson, a former Station Casinos executive who is chairman of the National Center for Responsible Gaming, an industry-funded addiction organization.
Journal Community
discuss
“ I'm sorry. Terrence Watanabe should've stopped after $50 million in losses. ”— Elton Tang
Mr. Watanabe says in court documents that he was barred from the Wynn casino in 2007 because of compulsive drinking and gambling. A Wynn spokeswoman declined to comment on the matter.
Harrah's Caesars and Rio casinos continued to put out the welcome mat. As part of the criminal case against Mr. Watanabe, Wilson Ning, a Harrah's marketing executive, testified before a grand jury in April that he didn't see Mr. Watanabe intoxicated at Caesars or Rio casinos, according to Mr. Zadrowski, the chief deputy district attorney who runs the bad-checks unit.
In 2007, Mr. Watanabe's prodigality became almost as legendary as his gambling. According to court documents, Mr. Watanabe says he regularly handed out to Caesars employees bundles of $100 bills that could total as much as $20,000.
Al Deleon and Kristian Kunder, two of Mr. Watanabe's personal handlers at Caesars, say he had thousands of Tiffany gift boxes filled with $50 gift cards or $100 gift coins that he would hand out to bartenders, nightclub operators, security guards and others. They say he once told a security guard to go to a supermarket and buy every cut of steak, and then proceeded to hand them out to employees.
The Trinket Empire
A native of Omaha, Neb., Mr. Watanabe built his fortune on plastic trinkets, the kind given away at carnivals and church fund-raisers: batons filled with tinsel, magic wands that light up, plastic spider rings that cost $1 for a bag of more than 100.
His father, Harry Watanabe, founded the import business, Oriental Trading Co., in 1932, after immigrating to the U.S. from Japan. As children, Mr. Watanabe and his younger sister and brother worked with their father after school. His mother, Fern, a Nebraska native, was a secretary there.
When Terrance Watanabe was 15, his father asked him if he wanted to take over the business, as is Japanese tradition for the first-born son, says his sister, Pam Watanabe-Gerdes. By the time he was 20, he was chief executive.
Some who knew Mr. Watanabe in Omaha describe him as guarded and shy. But he was also savvy at both marketing and selecting merchandise, says Bob Thomas, a chief operating officer at the company. It was those skills that helped Mr. Watanabe grow a modest toy business into a catalog empire that raked in $300 million in revenue by the time of its sale in 2000, Mr. Thomas says.
View Full ImageAssociated Press
Terrance Watanabe, center, and his sister, Pam Watanabe-Gerdes, leave a Las Vegas courthouse where he faced criminal charges for $14.7 million in alleged unpaid gambling debt.
The job was all-consuming, say former associates. He traveled for long stretches of time examining merchandise in Asia. He never married. His sister and others who know him say they don't believe he ever had a significant romantic relationship. "That was his life, that company," Mr. Thomas says. "It engulfed him."
In 1995, Mr. Watanabe bought an 18,000-square-foot mansion on four acres for $1.8 million, according to RealQuest. A major Omaha philanthropist, he gave millions to AIDS services, according to his foundation's records. He also donated nearly $500,000 to political causes, mostly to the Democratic National Party.
In 2000, Mr. Watanabe sold his company to Brentwood Assoc. of Los Angeles for an undisclosed sum. Oriental Trading has since been acquired by the Carlyle Group.
After the sale, Mr. Watanabe said his plan was to throw himself into his philanthropic work and have more fun. "If it's not fun, it's not worth doing," Mr. Watanabe told his hometown newspaper, the Omaha World-Herald, in 2000.
Donations from his foundation grew, but he soon became restless. Several business ideas, including opening a restaurant, went nowhere. "He didn't know what to do with his time," says his sister.
Betting the House
He found an answer at a Harrah's casino in Council Bluffs, Iowa, across the river from Omaha. He started gambling there in 2003, according to documents filed in Mr. Watanabe's civil suit. He became one of the casino's top customers, says Gabe Sullivan, a former Harrah's host who attended to Mr. Watanabe there.
Once he began traveling to Las Vegas frequently in 2005, Mr. Watanabe's gambling and drinking intensified, according to his civil suit.
In 2006, Mr. Watanabe resided primarily at Wynn Resorts' Wynn Las Vegas casino. But, he says, his heavy betting drew the attention of Chief Executive Steve Wynn. After meeting with him in June 2007, Mr. Wynn concluded that he was a compulsive gambler and alcoholic, and barred him from the casino, according to a letter to the Nevada Gaming Control Board drafted by Mr. Watanabe's attorney, Pierce O'Donnell.
Ms. Jones, the Harrah's vice president, says, "It was not our understanding that he was kicked out of Wynn because of problem gambling."
The casino operator offered him lucrative terms to gamble at its casinos, according to Mr. Watanabe's letter to the Control Board and copies of emails sent from Harrah's to Mr. Watanabe's assistant that were included in the court filings.
In a series of emails signed by Mr. Ning, the Harrah's marketing executive, the casino company laid out the terms that it was willing to offer him, which included "a special formula just for Mr. Watanabe."
Mr. Ning specified such offers as tickets to the Rolling Stones, $12,500 a month for airfare and $500,000 in credit at the gift stores. Harrah's also offered 15% cash back on table losses greater than $500,000, special high-limit games and other incentives. Mr. Watanabe alleges that Harrah's later rolled those terms back.
Mr. Ning didn't respond to requests for comment. Ms. Jones declined to comment on whether the company rolled back any incentives, but says "the practice of offering incentives and discounts to significant players is not unusual."
Harrah's Total Rewards Player's Club system, a loyalty program similar to that of other big casinos, created a special rank for Mr. Watanabe, "chairman," according to the filing and several employees. Before Mr. Watanabe, the most exclusive rank was "Seven Star."
Mr. Watanabe resided for free in a three-bedroom suite at Caesars, had access to his favorite bartender, drank a special brand of vodka, Jewel of Russia, and was constantly surrounded by attendants to serve his every need, such as a seven-course meal from the casino's Bradley Ogden restaurant delivered to him while he was gambling, according to the court filing and employee accounts.
Ms. Jones says Mr. Watanabe was treated just like any other high-end gambler: "When his requests were appropriate we met them."
Losing $5 Million in a Day
One reason Mr. Watanabe was seen as so valuable to Harrah's, say Messrs. Deleon and Kunder, two of his handlers, is that he gravitated toward games with low odds, including roulette and slots. "He was considered a 'house' player because slots and roulette are house games -- they have terrible odds for the player," says Mr. Kunder. "And the way he played blackjack, he made it a house game. He made such bad decisions on the blackjack table."
Ms. Jones disputes this interpretation. "I don't put a lot of credibility" in that, she says.
Several employees say Mr. Watanabe would stay at the tables for up to 24 hours, sometimes losing as much as $5 million in a single binge. He was allowed to play three blackjack hands simultaneously with a $50,000 limit for each hand. At one point, the casino raised his credit to $17 million, according to court documents.
Ms. Jones says for high rollers, the company will often extend credit.
When Mr. Sullivan, the Iowa casino host, visited Mr. Watanabe in Las Vegas during the height of his binge in 2007, he says, Mr. Watanabe appeared incoherent and had trouble remembering details of conversations. Other employees recall Mr. Watanabe stumbling around and dozing off at casino tables, some of which were located next to a nightclub blaring loud music.
Mr. Kunder and Mr. Deleon say they both voiced concerns to managers that Mr. Watanabe was too intoxicated, and were told not to get involved. "Nobody wanted to be the one to cut him off," Mr. Kunder says. "We were afraid of what upper management would do if he left because of our actions."
Mr. Kunder left Harrah's in the summer of 2008 to work at nightclubs. He has since moved to Chicago and works at a cell-phone company. Mr. Deleon left the casino in March 2009 to do similar work at Red Rock casino, owned by Station Casinos. Mr. Sullivan left Harrah's in March 2008 when his contract wasn't renewed by Harrah's. Ms. Jones says the departures were not related to Mr. Watanabe, but declined to further discuss the situations of individual employees.
Looking the Other Way
Mr. Watanabe alleges that during this period Harrah's not only didn't make him leave when he was drunk, but it plied him with alcohol and prescription drugs to encourage him to stay and gamble.
Several Caesars employees say there was no policy to keep Mr. Watanabe drugged or drunk. But, they say, staff knew the company wanted to keep one of the Strip's most lucrative customers, and so looked the other way. A picture of him was hung in employee back rooms, they say.
Ms. Jones says there was nothing inappropriate or unusual about fulfilling the reasonable requests of a good customer.
"We're in the gambling business," she says. "We had no reason to believe that Terry Watanabe was anything other than a big player with huge resources who made an adult decision to bet the money he did. Are we going to provide an environment that keeps him very happy? Of course we are."
Regarding Harrah's alcohol policy, Ms. Jones says, the company tells its employees to ask people who are clearly intoxicated to refrain from gambling, as required under state regulations. Employees attend a responsible-gaming class every year where they learn how and when to tell gamblers to leave the casino. The company has a phone number that employees can call to anonymously report unethical or improper behavior by other employees. There are no reports that anyone called the number regarding Mr. Watanabe, Ms. Jones says.
In its marketing materials, Harrah's reports its record as an early advocate and funder of organizations that help gambling addicts. Among other measures, it honors requests from addicts that they be barred from all casinos run by the company.
In September 2007, Mr. Watanabe fell in his room and hurt his back. He says his handlers -- including Mr. Kunder and Mr. Deleon -- supplied him doses of the prescription pain medication Lortab without a doctor's prescription, his court filing says.
Mr. Kunder says he gave Mr. Watanabe prescription pain medication from his personal supply a single time on the day after the fall upon Mr. Watanabe's request. Mr. Deleon says he never gave Mr. Watanabe drugs.
Ms. Jones said that if employees ever provided Mr. Watanabe drugs, it would be against company policy.
Mr. Watanabe's sister says she and her brother and sister-in-law weren't aware of how much money he was losing until a 2007 Thanksgiving visit, when he opened up to her about the depth of his losses. "It was embarrassing for him," she says.
Two weeks later, she says, she returned to Las Vegas and brought him home. Mr. Watanabe was back in Las Vegas gambling for a period in 2008. But he entered a residential treatment facility that year and hasn't entered a casino since, Ms. Watanabe-Gerdes says.
In July 2008, Mr. Watanabe sold his Omaha mansion for $2.66 million to a developer, according to Douglas County records. He now lives near San Francisco.
Next summer, Mr. Watanabe is due to stand trial on the felony charges stemming from his debts. In May, he pled not guilty.
Write to Alexandra Berzon at alexandra.berzon@wsj.com
The run is believed to be one of the biggest losing streaks by an individual in Las Vegas history. It devoured much of Mr. Watanabe's personal fortune, he says, which he built up over more than two decades running his family's party-favor import business in Omaha, Neb. It also benefitted the two casinos' parent company, Harrah's Entertainment Inc., which derived about 5.6% of its Las Vegas gambling revenue from Mr. Watanabe that year.
View Full ImagePeter McCollough for The Wall Street Journal
Terrance Watanabe, 52, is believed to have the biggest losing streak in Las Vegas history, losing $127 million dollars in one year. Mr. Watanabe, who now lives in the Bay Area, stands near the entrance to Stanford University on Dec. 3, 2009.
Today, Mr. Watanabe and Harrah's are fighting over another issue: whether the casino company bears some of the responsibility for his losses.
In a civil suit filed in Clark County District Court last month, Mr. Watanabe, 52 years old, says casino staff routinely plied him with liquor and pain medication as part of a systematic plan to keep him gambling.
Nevada's Gaming Control Board has opened a separate investigation into whether Harrah's violated gambling regulations, based on allegations made by Mr. Watanabe.
In April, the Clark County District Attorney's office charged Mr. Watanabe with four felony counts in district court for intent to defraud and steal from Harrah's, stemming from $14.7 million that the casino says it extended to him as credit, and that he lost. Although Mr. Watanabe has paid nearly $112 million to Harrah's, he has refused to pay the rest. He denies the charges, alleging that the casino reneged on promises to give him cash back on some losses, and encouraged him to gamble while intoxicated. If convicted, Mr. Watanabe faces up to 28 years in prison.
Jan Jones, Harrah's senior vice president for communications and government relations, says Mr. Watanabe's civil suit and his defense against the criminal charges are attempts to get out of paying a debt and to avoid accepting responsibility for his own actions. "Mr. Watanabe is a criminal defendant who faces imprisonment," Ms. Jones says. "All of his statements need to be seen in that light."
Several former and current Harrah's employees say their managers told them to let Mr. Watanabe continue betting while he was visibly intoxicated, even though casino rules and state law stipulate that anyone who is clearly drunk shouldn't be allowed to gamble. These employees say they were afraid they would be fired if they did anything to discourage Mr. Watanabe from gambling at the casinos.
View Full ImageCourtesy of Watanabe Family
Mr. Watanabe made his fortune running the party-favor business he inherited from his father, Harry.
Ms. Jones says company policy is to ask intoxicated gamblers to refrain from gambling. She says Harrah's has conducted an internal investigation into how its staff treated Mr. Watanabe but declined to release details because of the ongoing litigation.
Mr. Watanabe declined to be interviewed for this article. His lawyer, Pierce O'Donnell, says Harrah's "preyed" on Mr. Watanabe's condition. But he says his client also acknowledges that he "drank to excess." Mr. Watanabe "takes full responsibility for his condition at the time....He's not saying the devil made me do it."
Luring the 'Whales'
Mr. Watanabe's situation illustrates the often-uneasy relationships casinos have with their biggest clients, also known as "whales." Casinos vie to lure these high rollers by doling out luxury suites, use of private jets, and a cadre of personal handlers to fulfill every flight of fancy, from wire transfers to fishing trips to Alaska.
Analysts say competition for this group has become especially fierce because the portion of revenue from big-spending clients appears to be increasing amid a downturn in overall gambling. Part of that analysis is based on revenue from baccarat, a high-stakes game favored by high rollers. Baccarat play on the Las Vegas Strip grew to 14.7% of gambling revenue in the last 12 months from 13% during the same period in 2007, according to state gaming regulators. Revenue from all gambling on the Strip over the same period has declined 19.1%.
But casino operators often struggle to manage high rollers. Some are compulsive gamblers whose losses -- and lives -- can quickly spiral out of control. In some instances, gamblers have tried to turn the blame around on casinos in civil suits. Such attempts are rarely, if ever, successful, experts say.
In 1993, former Philadelphia Eagles owner Leonard Tose failed to convince a jury in a civil suit against Hollywood Casino Corp. that employees of the casino had gotten him so drunk that he didn't know what he was doing when he gambled away millions in Atlantic City, N.J. As a result, he had to pay the casino $1.23 million in gambling debt. He died in 2003.
Nevada treats unpaid gambling debt as a criminal matter handled by the District Attorney's bad-checks unit. Most defendants agree to pay the debt through a payment plan before charges are filed, with around 10% tacked on to fund the D.A. unit. Clark County, which encompasses Las Vegas, prosecutes roughly 200 cases involving gambling debts a month, says Bernie Zadrowski, who runs the bad-checks unit.
View Full ImageThe Omaha World-Herald
Mr. Watanabe at an Oriental Trading Company office in Ralston, Neb., in August 1995
Just as in civil cases, people with alleged unpaid debts sometimes try to get out of criminal charges by claiming that casinos had a hand in keeping them intoxicated. Although Mr. Zadrowski declined to comment specifically on Mr. Watanabe's case, he says this kind of defense never works in criminal court: "Uniformly, the rule is nobody made you drunk."
State regulators have the authority to fine casinos for letting people gamble who are visibly intoxicated, but such fines haven't been levied, says Brian Duffrin, executive secretary to the Nevada Gaming Control Board and the Nevada Gaming Commissions.
Still, casinos will sometimes bar gamblers who are behaving erratically or whom they suspect won't pay their debts. "It almost becomes a cost-benefit decision," says Glenn Christenson, a former Station Casinos executive who is chairman of the National Center for Responsible Gaming, an industry-funded addiction organization.
Journal Community
discuss
“ I'm sorry. Terrence Watanabe should've stopped after $50 million in losses. ”— Elton Tang
Mr. Watanabe says in court documents that he was barred from the Wynn casino in 2007 because of compulsive drinking and gambling. A Wynn spokeswoman declined to comment on the matter.
Harrah's Caesars and Rio casinos continued to put out the welcome mat. As part of the criminal case against Mr. Watanabe, Wilson Ning, a Harrah's marketing executive, testified before a grand jury in April that he didn't see Mr. Watanabe intoxicated at Caesars or Rio casinos, according to Mr. Zadrowski, the chief deputy district attorney who runs the bad-checks unit.
In 2007, Mr. Watanabe's prodigality became almost as legendary as his gambling. According to court documents, Mr. Watanabe says he regularly handed out to Caesars employees bundles of $100 bills that could total as much as $20,000.
Al Deleon and Kristian Kunder, two of Mr. Watanabe's personal handlers at Caesars, say he had thousands of Tiffany gift boxes filled with $50 gift cards or $100 gift coins that he would hand out to bartenders, nightclub operators, security guards and others. They say he once told a security guard to go to a supermarket and buy every cut of steak, and then proceeded to hand them out to employees.
The Trinket Empire
A native of Omaha, Neb., Mr. Watanabe built his fortune on plastic trinkets, the kind given away at carnivals and church fund-raisers: batons filled with tinsel, magic wands that light up, plastic spider rings that cost $1 for a bag of more than 100.
His father, Harry Watanabe, founded the import business, Oriental Trading Co., in 1932, after immigrating to the U.S. from Japan. As children, Mr. Watanabe and his younger sister and brother worked with their father after school. His mother, Fern, a Nebraska native, was a secretary there.
When Terrance Watanabe was 15, his father asked him if he wanted to take over the business, as is Japanese tradition for the first-born son, says his sister, Pam Watanabe-Gerdes. By the time he was 20, he was chief executive.
Some who knew Mr. Watanabe in Omaha describe him as guarded and shy. But he was also savvy at both marketing and selecting merchandise, says Bob Thomas, a chief operating officer at the company. It was those skills that helped Mr. Watanabe grow a modest toy business into a catalog empire that raked in $300 million in revenue by the time of its sale in 2000, Mr. Thomas says.
View Full ImageAssociated Press
Terrance Watanabe, center, and his sister, Pam Watanabe-Gerdes, leave a Las Vegas courthouse where he faced criminal charges for $14.7 million in alleged unpaid gambling debt.
The job was all-consuming, say former associates. He traveled for long stretches of time examining merchandise in Asia. He never married. His sister and others who know him say they don't believe he ever had a significant romantic relationship. "That was his life, that company," Mr. Thomas says. "It engulfed him."
In 1995, Mr. Watanabe bought an 18,000-square-foot mansion on four acres for $1.8 million, according to RealQuest. A major Omaha philanthropist, he gave millions to AIDS services, according to his foundation's records. He also donated nearly $500,000 to political causes, mostly to the Democratic National Party.
In 2000, Mr. Watanabe sold his company to Brentwood Assoc. of Los Angeles for an undisclosed sum. Oriental Trading has since been acquired by the Carlyle Group.
After the sale, Mr. Watanabe said his plan was to throw himself into his philanthropic work and have more fun. "If it's not fun, it's not worth doing," Mr. Watanabe told his hometown newspaper, the Omaha World-Herald, in 2000.
Donations from his foundation grew, but he soon became restless. Several business ideas, including opening a restaurant, went nowhere. "He didn't know what to do with his time," says his sister.
Betting the House
He found an answer at a Harrah's casino in Council Bluffs, Iowa, across the river from Omaha. He started gambling there in 2003, according to documents filed in Mr. Watanabe's civil suit. He became one of the casino's top customers, says Gabe Sullivan, a former Harrah's host who attended to Mr. Watanabe there.
Once he began traveling to Las Vegas frequently in 2005, Mr. Watanabe's gambling and drinking intensified, according to his civil suit.
In 2006, Mr. Watanabe resided primarily at Wynn Resorts' Wynn Las Vegas casino. But, he says, his heavy betting drew the attention of Chief Executive Steve Wynn. After meeting with him in June 2007, Mr. Wynn concluded that he was a compulsive gambler and alcoholic, and barred him from the casino, according to a letter to the Nevada Gaming Control Board drafted by Mr. Watanabe's attorney, Pierce O'Donnell.
Ms. Jones, the Harrah's vice president, says, "It was not our understanding that he was kicked out of Wynn because of problem gambling."
The casino operator offered him lucrative terms to gamble at its casinos, according to Mr. Watanabe's letter to the Control Board and copies of emails sent from Harrah's to Mr. Watanabe's assistant that were included in the court filings.
In a series of emails signed by Mr. Ning, the Harrah's marketing executive, the casino company laid out the terms that it was willing to offer him, which included "a special formula just for Mr. Watanabe."
Mr. Ning specified such offers as tickets to the Rolling Stones, $12,500 a month for airfare and $500,000 in credit at the gift stores. Harrah's also offered 15% cash back on table losses greater than $500,000, special high-limit games and other incentives. Mr. Watanabe alleges that Harrah's later rolled those terms back.
Mr. Ning didn't respond to requests for comment. Ms. Jones declined to comment on whether the company rolled back any incentives, but says "the practice of offering incentives and discounts to significant players is not unusual."
Harrah's Total Rewards Player's Club system, a loyalty program similar to that of other big casinos, created a special rank for Mr. Watanabe, "chairman," according to the filing and several employees. Before Mr. Watanabe, the most exclusive rank was "Seven Star."
Mr. Watanabe resided for free in a three-bedroom suite at Caesars, had access to his favorite bartender, drank a special brand of vodka, Jewel of Russia, and was constantly surrounded by attendants to serve his every need, such as a seven-course meal from the casino's Bradley Ogden restaurant delivered to him while he was gambling, according to the court filing and employee accounts.
Ms. Jones says Mr. Watanabe was treated just like any other high-end gambler: "When his requests were appropriate we met them."
Losing $5 Million in a Day
One reason Mr. Watanabe was seen as so valuable to Harrah's, say Messrs. Deleon and Kunder, two of his handlers, is that he gravitated toward games with low odds, including roulette and slots. "He was considered a 'house' player because slots and roulette are house games -- they have terrible odds for the player," says Mr. Kunder. "And the way he played blackjack, he made it a house game. He made such bad decisions on the blackjack table."
Ms. Jones disputes this interpretation. "I don't put a lot of credibility" in that, she says.
Several employees say Mr. Watanabe would stay at the tables for up to 24 hours, sometimes losing as much as $5 million in a single binge. He was allowed to play three blackjack hands simultaneously with a $50,000 limit for each hand. At one point, the casino raised his credit to $17 million, according to court documents.
Ms. Jones says for high rollers, the company will often extend credit.
When Mr. Sullivan, the Iowa casino host, visited Mr. Watanabe in Las Vegas during the height of his binge in 2007, he says, Mr. Watanabe appeared incoherent and had trouble remembering details of conversations. Other employees recall Mr. Watanabe stumbling around and dozing off at casino tables, some of which were located next to a nightclub blaring loud music.
Mr. Kunder and Mr. Deleon say they both voiced concerns to managers that Mr. Watanabe was too intoxicated, and were told not to get involved. "Nobody wanted to be the one to cut him off," Mr. Kunder says. "We were afraid of what upper management would do if he left because of our actions."
Mr. Kunder left Harrah's in the summer of 2008 to work at nightclubs. He has since moved to Chicago and works at a cell-phone company. Mr. Deleon left the casino in March 2009 to do similar work at Red Rock casino, owned by Station Casinos. Mr. Sullivan left Harrah's in March 2008 when his contract wasn't renewed by Harrah's. Ms. Jones says the departures were not related to Mr. Watanabe, but declined to further discuss the situations of individual employees.
Looking the Other Way
Mr. Watanabe alleges that during this period Harrah's not only didn't make him leave when he was drunk, but it plied him with alcohol and prescription drugs to encourage him to stay and gamble.
Several Caesars employees say there was no policy to keep Mr. Watanabe drugged or drunk. But, they say, staff knew the company wanted to keep one of the Strip's most lucrative customers, and so looked the other way. A picture of him was hung in employee back rooms, they say.
Ms. Jones says there was nothing inappropriate or unusual about fulfilling the reasonable requests of a good customer.
"We're in the gambling business," she says. "We had no reason to believe that Terry Watanabe was anything other than a big player with huge resources who made an adult decision to bet the money he did. Are we going to provide an environment that keeps him very happy? Of course we are."
Regarding Harrah's alcohol policy, Ms. Jones says, the company tells its employees to ask people who are clearly intoxicated to refrain from gambling, as required under state regulations. Employees attend a responsible-gaming class every year where they learn how and when to tell gamblers to leave the casino. The company has a phone number that employees can call to anonymously report unethical or improper behavior by other employees. There are no reports that anyone called the number regarding Mr. Watanabe, Ms. Jones says.
In its marketing materials, Harrah's reports its record as an early advocate and funder of organizations that help gambling addicts. Among other measures, it honors requests from addicts that they be barred from all casinos run by the company.
In September 2007, Mr. Watanabe fell in his room and hurt his back. He says his handlers -- including Mr. Kunder and Mr. Deleon -- supplied him doses of the prescription pain medication Lortab without a doctor's prescription, his court filing says.
Mr. Kunder says he gave Mr. Watanabe prescription pain medication from his personal supply a single time on the day after the fall upon Mr. Watanabe's request. Mr. Deleon says he never gave Mr. Watanabe drugs.
Ms. Jones said that if employees ever provided Mr. Watanabe drugs, it would be against company policy.
Mr. Watanabe's sister says she and her brother and sister-in-law weren't aware of how much money he was losing until a 2007 Thanksgiving visit, when he opened up to her about the depth of his losses. "It was embarrassing for him," she says.
Two weeks later, she says, she returned to Las Vegas and brought him home. Mr. Watanabe was back in Las Vegas gambling for a period in 2008. But he entered a residential treatment facility that year and hasn't entered a casino since, Ms. Watanabe-Gerdes says.
In July 2008, Mr. Watanabe sold his Omaha mansion for $2.66 million to a developer, according to Douglas County records. He now lives near San Francisco.
Next summer, Mr. Watanabe is due to stand trial on the felony charges stemming from his debts. In May, he pled not guilty.
Write to Alexandra Berzon at alexandra.berzon@wsj.com
US President Barack Obama accepted his Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo on December 10, but acknowledged the controversy over the award. In addition, a scandal marred Obama’s arrival for the official ceremony in Norway. Officials of Obama’s administration canceled the dinner with the Norwegian Nobel Committee, the news conference, the interview for television, the meeting with children, the concert, the attendance of an exhibition organized in honor of the laureate and even the scheduled lunch with the King of Norway.
The fact that Obama canceled the lunch with the King of Norway insulted the whole nation, a Norwegian official said.
"Of all the things he is cancelling, I think the worst is cancelling the lunch with the king," Siv Jensen, the leader of Norway’s largest party in opposition said. "This is a central part of our government system. He should respect the monarchy," The Guardian quoted the official as saying.
Cuba ’s Fidel Castro criticized Obama for accepting the Nobel Peace Prize too. The leader of the Island of Freedom believes that the US president does not deserve such a prize. Castro also criticized Obama for the USA’s new strategy in Afghanistan.
“It seemed to me that day that I was listening to George Bush. His arguments did not differ much from the philosophy of his predecessor except for one fig leaf – Obama condemned tortures,” the ailing Cuban leader wrote for Granma.
“The politics, which the new administration suggests in Afghanistan, does not differ from that of Bush, who ordered to invade Iraq – the country that was not related to the Twin Towers terror acts,” Fidel Castro said.
"Why did Obama accept the Nobel Peace Prize when he'd already decided to fight the Afghanistan war to the last? He wasn't obliged to commit a cynical act," Castro wrote.
"The president of the United States doesn't say a word about the hundreds of thousands of people, including children and innocent elderly people, who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan, and about millions of Iraqis and Afghanis who suffer from consequences of the war, although are do not carry any responsibility for the events in New York,” Castro wrote in his article.
The Cuban leader believes that Obama delivered yet another theatrical speech in Oslo, pronounced a new set of phrases to justify the existence of the imperial superpower that has hundreds of army bases all over the world and 200 years of history of armed invasions.
The fact that Obama canceled the lunch with the King of Norway insulted the whole nation, a Norwegian official said.
"Of all the things he is cancelling, I think the worst is cancelling the lunch with the king," Siv Jensen, the leader of Norway’s largest party in opposition said. "This is a central part of our government system. He should respect the monarchy," The Guardian quoted the official as saying.
Cuba ’s Fidel Castro criticized Obama for accepting the Nobel Peace Prize too. The leader of the Island of Freedom believes that the US president does not deserve such a prize. Castro also criticized Obama for the USA’s new strategy in Afghanistan.
“It seemed to me that day that I was listening to George Bush. His arguments did not differ much from the philosophy of his predecessor except for one fig leaf – Obama condemned tortures,” the ailing Cuban leader wrote for Granma.
“The politics, which the new administration suggests in Afghanistan, does not differ from that of Bush, who ordered to invade Iraq – the country that was not related to the Twin Towers terror acts,” Fidel Castro said.
"Why did Obama accept the Nobel Peace Prize when he'd already decided to fight the Afghanistan war to the last? He wasn't obliged to commit a cynical act," Castro wrote.
"The president of the United States doesn't say a word about the hundreds of thousands of people, including children and innocent elderly people, who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan, and about millions of Iraqis and Afghanis who suffer from consequences of the war, although are do not carry any responsibility for the events in New York,” Castro wrote in his article.
The Cuban leader believes that Obama delivered yet another theatrical speech in Oslo, pronounced a new set of phrases to justify the existence of the imperial superpower that has hundreds of army bases all over the world and 200 years of history of armed invasions.
The number of high-level officials and experts warning that the economic crisis could lead to revolt and revolution world-wide - even in the U.S. - is growing every day:
The U.S. Army War College in November warned in a monograph [click on Policypointers’ pdf link to see the report] titled “Known Unknowns: Unconventional ‘Strategic Shocks’ in Defense Strategy Development” of crash-induced unrest:
The military must be prepared, the document warned, for a “violent, strategic dislocation inside the United States,” which could be provoked by “unforeseen economic collapse,” “purposeful domestic resistance,” “pervasive public health emergencies” or “loss of functioning political and legal order.” The “widespread civil violence,” the document said, “would force the defense establishment to reorient priorities in extremis to defend basic domestic order and human security.”
“An American government and defense establishment lulled into complacency by a long-secure domestic order would be forced to rapidly divest some or most external security commitments in order to address rapidly expanding human insecurity at home,” it went on.
“Under the most extreme circumstances, this might include use of military force against hostile groups inside the United States. Further, DoD [the Department of Defense] would be, by necessity, an essential enabling hub for the continuity of political authority in a multi-state or nationwide civil conflict or disturbance,” the document read.
Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair said:
"The global economic crisis ... already looms as the most serious one in decades, if not in centuries ... Economic crises increase the risk of regime-threatening instability if they are prolonged for a one- or two-year period," said Blair. "And instability can loosen the fragile hold that many developing countries have on law and order, which can spill out in dangerous ways into the international community."***"Statistical modeling shows that economic crises increase the risk of regime-threatening instability if they persist over a one-to-two-year period."***“The crisis has been ongoing for over a year, and economists are divided over whether and when we could hit bottom. Some even fear that the recession could further deepen and reach the level of the Great Depression. Of course, all of us recall the dramatic political consequences wrought by the economic turmoil of the 1920s and 1930s in Europe, the instability, and high levels of violent extremism.”Blair made it clear that - while unrest was currently only happening in Europe - he was worried this could happen within the United States.[See also this].
Former national security director Zbigniew Brzezinski warned "there’s going to be growing conflict between the classes and if people are unemployed and really hurting, hell, there could be even riots."
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff warned the the financial crisis is the highest national security concern for the U.S., and warned that the fallout from the crisis could lead to of "greater instability".Others warning of crash-induced unrest include:
The head of the World Trade Organization
The head of the International Monetary Fund
The head of the World Bank
Senator Christopher Dodd
Congressman Ron Paul (radio interview on March 6, 2009)
Britian's MI5 security agency
Leading economic historian Niall Ferguson
Leading economist Marc Faber and billionaire investor Jim Rogers
Leading economist Nouriel Roubini
Leading economist John Williams
Top trend researcher Gerald Calente
European think tank Leap2020
The U.S. Army War College in November warned in a monograph [click on Policypointers’ pdf link to see the report] titled “Known Unknowns: Unconventional ‘Strategic Shocks’ in Defense Strategy Development” of crash-induced unrest:
The military must be prepared, the document warned, for a “violent, strategic dislocation inside the United States,” which could be provoked by “unforeseen economic collapse,” “purposeful domestic resistance,” “pervasive public health emergencies” or “loss of functioning political and legal order.” The “widespread civil violence,” the document said, “would force the defense establishment to reorient priorities in extremis to defend basic domestic order and human security.”
“An American government and defense establishment lulled into complacency by a long-secure domestic order would be forced to rapidly divest some or most external security commitments in order to address rapidly expanding human insecurity at home,” it went on.
“Under the most extreme circumstances, this might include use of military force against hostile groups inside the United States. Further, DoD [the Department of Defense] would be, by necessity, an essential enabling hub for the continuity of political authority in a multi-state or nationwide civil conflict or disturbance,” the document read.
Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair said:
"The global economic crisis ... already looms as the most serious one in decades, if not in centuries ... Economic crises increase the risk of regime-threatening instability if they are prolonged for a one- or two-year period," said Blair. "And instability can loosen the fragile hold that many developing countries have on law and order, which can spill out in dangerous ways into the international community."***"Statistical modeling shows that economic crises increase the risk of regime-threatening instability if they persist over a one-to-two-year period."***“The crisis has been ongoing for over a year, and economists are divided over whether and when we could hit bottom. Some even fear that the recession could further deepen and reach the level of the Great Depression. Of course, all of us recall the dramatic political consequences wrought by the economic turmoil of the 1920s and 1930s in Europe, the instability, and high levels of violent extremism.”Blair made it clear that - while unrest was currently only happening in Europe - he was worried this could happen within the United States.[See also this].
Former national security director Zbigniew Brzezinski warned "there’s going to be growing conflict between the classes and if people are unemployed and really hurting, hell, there could be even riots."
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff warned the the financial crisis is the highest national security concern for the U.S., and warned that the fallout from the crisis could lead to of "greater instability".Others warning of crash-induced unrest include:
The head of the World Trade Organization
The head of the International Monetary Fund
The head of the World Bank
Senator Christopher Dodd
Congressman Ron Paul (radio interview on March 6, 2009)
Britian's MI5 security agency
Leading economic historian Niall Ferguson
Leading economist Marc Faber and billionaire investor Jim Rogers
Leading economist Nouriel Roubini
Leading economist John Williams
Top trend researcher Gerald Calente
European think tank Leap2020
Russian Military Analysts are reporting to Prime Minister Putin that US President Barack Obama has issued orders to his Northern Command’s (USNORTHCOM) top leader, US Air Force General Gene Renuart, to “begin immediately” increasing his military forces to 1 million troops by January 30, 2010, in what these reports warn is an expected outbreak of civil war within the United States before the end of winter.
If Obama signs our sovereignty and freedom away and brings foreign troops to suppress our freedom will you fight back? Answer this question now on our poll on top left of this site.
According to these reports, Obama has had over these past weeks “numerous” meetings with his war council about how best to manage the expected implosion of his Nations banking system while at the same time attempting to keep the United States military hegemony over the World in what Russian Military Analysts state is a “last ditch gambit” whose success is “far from certain”.
And to Obama’s “last ditch gambit”, these reports continue, he is to announce in a nationwide address to his people this coming week that he is going to expand the level of US Military Forces in Afghanistan by tens of thousands of troops, while at the same time using the deployment of these soldiers as a “cover” for returning to the United States over 200,000 additional American soldiers from the over 800 bases in over 39 countries they have stationed around the Globe bringing the level of these forces in America to over 1 million, a number the US Military believes will be able to contain the “explosion of violence” expected to roil these peoples when they learn their economy has been bankrupted.
These reports further state that at the same time Obama will be attempting to keep his Nation from violent disintegration, the tens of thousands of additional troops he will send to Afghanistan are to be ordered to Kandahar where the Americans and their NATO allies will begin their final attempt to secure their TAPI (Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India) pipeline, which without the Western Nations, due to their grave lack of alternative energy resources, and being cut off from these vast Central Asian supplies (which both Russia and China are seeking to insure), are warned will totally collapse.
Making the American’s (and by extension the West’s) situation even worse are new reports coming from the International Energy Agency stating that “under pressure” from the US government they have been “deliberately underplaying” a looming Global oil shortage for fear of triggering panic buying and raising the Americans fear over the end of oil supremacy because it would threaten their power over access to our World’s last remaining oil resources.
To the scariest “end game” maneuvers being made by Obama, in his attempt to protect Americas Global hegemony, is his record shattering move in plunging the United States $3.5 Trillion further into debt, and which raises the total amount owed by the United States, to its citizens and the World, to the unprecedented height of over $106 Trillion.
So alarming has Obama’s actions become (especially since they are being imitated by all of the Western powers) that the managing-director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Dominique Strauss-Kahn, warned this past week that the “stimulus actions” of the West (which in essence is nothing more than the printing of money with nothing to back it up) has now become a “threat to democracy” as millions of people are expected to erupt in violence against their governments over the theft of their money and their futures.
Most unfortunately for the American people though is that this IMF warning fell on “deaf ears” in the United States with the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President, James Bullard, saying this week that the US would continue its “stimulus actions” because they “would give more flexibility to US policymakers”, a most absurd statement especially when viewed in the light of the unprecedented debt payments currently looming over the American economy they have no ability whatsoever to pay.
To the ability of the West’s banking giants to save their Nation’s economies, even worse news came this week with the US ratings giant Standards & Poors issuing a warning that “every single bank in Japan, the US, Germany, Spain, and Italy included in S&P’s list of 45 Global lenders remain unsafe”, a warning which then lead to one of Europe’s largest banks, Société Générale, warning its clients to prepare for a “total Global Economic Collapse”.
To the fears of Obama over the United States erupting into civil war once the full extent of the rape and pillaging of these peoples by their banks and government becomes known to them, grim evidence now shows the likelihood of this occurring much sooner than later, especially in new poll figures showing that Obama’s approval rating among white Americans has now fallen to 39%. A number made more significant when one realizes that the white population of the United States comprises 74% of their estimated 398 million citizens, or put more ominously in these reports as “over 220 million American people armed to the teeth and ready to explode”.
And so fearful has the white population of the United States become that upon the election of Obama to the Presidency he was named as the “Gun Salesman of the Year” by the Outdoor Wire, the US’s largest daily electronic news service for the outdoor industry, who report “panic buying” of weapons and ammunition by those fearful of the destruction of their country at the hands of man they believe is not even an American citizen and had been foisted upon them by their elite classes seeking to enslave them.
Though the coming civil war in the United States is being virtually ignored by their propaganda media, the same cannot be said of Russia, where leading Russian political analyst, Professor Igor Panarin has long warned that the economic turmoil in the United States has confirmed his long-held view that the US is heading for collapse, and will divide into separate parts. Professor Igor Panarin further stated in his warning that “the US Dollar is not secured by anything. The country’s foreign debt has grown like an avalanche, even though in the early 1980s there was no debt. By 1998, when I first made my prediction, it had exceeded $2 trillion. Now it is more than 11 trillion. This is a pyramid that can only collapse.”
What remains to be seen, and these reports do not speculate upon, is if the citizen-soldiers of the United States will fire upon and kill their fellow countrymen during the coming conflict, but if history is to be our guide clearly shows this will be the case as the once great American Nation continues its headlong plunge into the abyss of history. May God have mercy upon all of them.
From 1961 to 1971, the US military sprayed Vietnam with Agent Orange, which contained large quantities of Dioxin, in order to defoliate the trees for military objectives. Dioxin is one of the most dangerous chemicals known to man. It has been recognized by the World Health Organization as a carcinogen (causes cancer) and by the American Academy of Medicine as a teratogen (causes birth defects).
Between 2.5 and 4.8 million people were exposed to Agent Orange. The spraying covered 1.4 billion hectares of land and forest - approximately 12 percent of the land area of Vietnam.
Vietnamese who were exposed to the chemical have suffered from cancer, liver damage, pulmonary and heart diseases, defects to reproductive capacity, and skin and nervous disorders. Children and grandchildren of those exposed have severe physical deformities, mental and physical disabilities, diseases and shortened life spans. The forests and jungles in large parts of southern Vietnam have been devastated and denuded. They may never grow back and if they do, it will take 50 to 200 years to regenerate. Animals that inhabited the forests and jungles have become extinct, disrupting the communities that depended on them. The rivers and underground water in some areas have also been contaminated. Erosion and desertification will change the environment, contributing to the warming of the planet and dislocation of crop and animal life.
The US government and the chemical companies knew that Agent Orange, when produced rapidly at high temperatures, would contain large quantities of Dioxin. Nevertheless, the chemical companies continued to produce it in this manner. The US government and the chemical companies also knew that the Bionetics Study, commissioned by the government in 1963, showed that even low levels of Dioxin produced significant deformities in unborn offspring of laboratory animals. But they suppressed that study and continued to spray Vietnam with Agent Orange. It wasn't until the study was leaked in 1969 that the spraying of Agent Orange was discontinued.
US soldiers who served in Vietnam have experienced similar illnesses. After they sued the chemical companies, including Dow and Monsanto, that manufactured and sold Agent Orange to the government, the case was settled out of court for $180 million which gave few plaintiffs more than a few thousand dollars each. Later the US veterans won a legislative victory for compensation for exposure to Agent Orange. They receive $1.52 billion per year in benefits.
But when the Vietnamese victims of Agent Orange sued the chemical companies in federal court, US District Judge Jack Weinstein dismissed the lawsuit, concluding that Agent Orange did not constitute a poison weapon prohibited by the Hague Convention of 1907. Weinstein had reportedly told the chemical companies when they settled the US veterans' suit that their liability was over and he was making good on his promise. His dismissal was affirmed by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court refused to hear the case. The chemical companies admitted in their filing in the Supreme Court that the harm alleged by the victims was foreseeable although not intended. How can something that is foreseeable be unintended?
On May 15 and 16 of this year, the International Peoples' Tribunal of Conscience in Support of the Vietnamese Victims of Agent Orange convened in Paris and heard testimony from 27 victims, witnesses and scientific experts. Seven people from three continents served as judges of the Tribunal, which was sponsored by the International Association of Democratic Lawyers (IADL).
Testimony given by the witnesses showed the following:
Mai Giang Vu, a member of the Army of South Vietnam, carried barrels of the chemicals on his back. His two sons could not walk or function normally, their limbs gradually "curled up" and they could only crawl. They died at the ages of 23 and 25.
Pham The Minh, whose parents also served in the South Vietnamese Army, showed the Tribunal his severely deformed, crooked, skinny legs; he has great difficulty walking, as well as digestive and pulmonary diseases.
To Nga Tran is a French Vietnamese who worked as a journalist during the spraying. Her daughter weighed 6.6 pounds at the age of three months. Her skin began shredding and she could not bear to have skin contact or simple demonstrations of love. She died at 17 months, weighing 6.6 pounds. Ms. To described a woman who gave birth to a "ball" with no human form. Many children are born without brains; others make inhuman sounds.
Rosemarie Hohn Mizo is the widow of George Mizo, who served in the US Army in Vietnam in 1967. He slept on contaminated ground and consumed food and drink that were also contaminated. George refused to serve after he was wounded for the third time; he was court-martialed and sentenced to 2-1/2 years in prison and a dishonorable discharge. George helped found the Friendship Village where Vietnamese victims live in a supportive environment. He died from conditions related to his exposure to Agent Orange.
Georges Doussin, co-founder of the Friendship Village, visited a dormitory where he saw 50 highly deformed "monsters," who produced inhuman sounds. One man whose parent had been exposed to Agent Orange had four toes on each foot. Doussin said Agent Orange creates "total anarchy in evolution."
Dr. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Phuong, from Tu Du Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), sees many children born without arms and/or legs, without heads or faces, and without a brain chamber. According to the World Health Organization, only 1-4 parts per trillion (PPT) of Dioxin in breast milk can cause severe deformities in fetuses and even death. But up to 1,450 PPT are found in maternal milk in Vietnam.
Dr. Jeanne Stellman, who wrote the seminal article about Agent Orange in the magazine Nature, testified that "this is the largest unstudied environmental disaster in the world (except for natural disasters)."
Dr. Jean Grassman, from Brooklyn College at City University of New York, testified that Dioxin is a potent cellular disregulator that alters a variety of pathways to disrupt many systems. Children, she said, are very sensitive to Dioxin; the intrauterine or postnatal exposure to Dioxin may result in altered immune, neurobehavioral and hormonal functioning. Women pass their exposure to their children, both in utero and through the excretion of Dioxin in breast milk.
Many ecosystems have been destroyed and Dioxin continues to poison Vietnam, especially in the several "hot spots."
Chemist Dr. Pierre Vermeulin testified that it was estimated that $1 billion would be required to restore one hectare of land in Vietnam. The cost of caring for the victims, many of whom need 24-hour care, is enormous.
In 1973, President Richard Nixon promised $3.25 billion in reconstruction aid to Vietnam "without any preconditions." That aid was never granted.
There are only 11 Friendship Villages in Vietnam; 1,000 are needed to care for the child victims of Agent Orange.
Last week, the Bureau of the IADL, meeting in Hanoi, presented President Nguyen Minh Triet of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam with the final decision of the Tribunal. The judges found the US government and the chemical companies guilty of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and ecocide during the illegal US war of aggression in Vietnam. We recommended that the Agent Orange Commission be established in Vietnam to assess the damages suffered by the people and destruction of the environment, and that the US government and the chemical companies provide compensation for the damage and destruction.
I told the president that it always struck me that even as US bombs were dropping on the people of Vietnam, they always distinguished between the American government and the American people. The president responded, "We fought the forces of aggression but we always reserved our love for the people of America ... because we knew they always supported us."
An estimated 3 million Vietnamese people were killed in the war, which also claimed 58,000 American lives. For many other Vietnamese and US veterans and their families, the war continues to take its toll.
Several treaties the United States has ratified require an effective remedy for violations of human rights. It is time to make good on Nixon's promise and remedy the terrible wrong the US government perpetrated on the people of Vietnam. Congress must pass legislation to compensate the Vietnamese victims of Agent Orange as it did for the US Vietnam veteran victims.
Our government must know that it cannot continue to use weapons that target and harm civilians. Indeed, the US military is using depleted uranium in Iraq and Afghanistan, which will poison those countries for incalculable decades.
--------
Marjorie Cohn, a professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law and president of the National Lawyers Guild, served as a judge on the International Peoples' Tribunal of Conscience in Support of the Vietnamese Victims of Agent Orange. She is a member of the Bureau of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers, and co-author of "Rules of Disengagement: The Politics and Honor of Military Dissent."
Between 2.5 and 4.8 million people were exposed to Agent Orange. The spraying covered 1.4 billion hectares of land and forest - approximately 12 percent of the land area of Vietnam.
Vietnamese who were exposed to the chemical have suffered from cancer, liver damage, pulmonary and heart diseases, defects to reproductive capacity, and skin and nervous disorders. Children and grandchildren of those exposed have severe physical deformities, mental and physical disabilities, diseases and shortened life spans. The forests and jungles in large parts of southern Vietnam have been devastated and denuded. They may never grow back and if they do, it will take 50 to 200 years to regenerate. Animals that inhabited the forests and jungles have become extinct, disrupting the communities that depended on them. The rivers and underground water in some areas have also been contaminated. Erosion and desertification will change the environment, contributing to the warming of the planet and dislocation of crop and animal life.
The US government and the chemical companies knew that Agent Orange, when produced rapidly at high temperatures, would contain large quantities of Dioxin. Nevertheless, the chemical companies continued to produce it in this manner. The US government and the chemical companies also knew that the Bionetics Study, commissioned by the government in 1963, showed that even low levels of Dioxin produced significant deformities in unborn offspring of laboratory animals. But they suppressed that study and continued to spray Vietnam with Agent Orange. It wasn't until the study was leaked in 1969 that the spraying of Agent Orange was discontinued.
US soldiers who served in Vietnam have experienced similar illnesses. After they sued the chemical companies, including Dow and Monsanto, that manufactured and sold Agent Orange to the government, the case was settled out of court for $180 million which gave few plaintiffs more than a few thousand dollars each. Later the US veterans won a legislative victory for compensation for exposure to Agent Orange. They receive $1.52 billion per year in benefits.
But when the Vietnamese victims of Agent Orange sued the chemical companies in federal court, US District Judge Jack Weinstein dismissed the lawsuit, concluding that Agent Orange did not constitute a poison weapon prohibited by the Hague Convention of 1907. Weinstein had reportedly told the chemical companies when they settled the US veterans' suit that their liability was over and he was making good on his promise. His dismissal was affirmed by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court refused to hear the case. The chemical companies admitted in their filing in the Supreme Court that the harm alleged by the victims was foreseeable although not intended. How can something that is foreseeable be unintended?
On May 15 and 16 of this year, the International Peoples' Tribunal of Conscience in Support of the Vietnamese Victims of Agent Orange convened in Paris and heard testimony from 27 victims, witnesses and scientific experts. Seven people from three continents served as judges of the Tribunal, which was sponsored by the International Association of Democratic Lawyers (IADL).
Testimony given by the witnesses showed the following:
Mai Giang Vu, a member of the Army of South Vietnam, carried barrels of the chemicals on his back. His two sons could not walk or function normally, their limbs gradually "curled up" and they could only crawl. They died at the ages of 23 and 25.
Pham The Minh, whose parents also served in the South Vietnamese Army, showed the Tribunal his severely deformed, crooked, skinny legs; he has great difficulty walking, as well as digestive and pulmonary diseases.
To Nga Tran is a French Vietnamese who worked as a journalist during the spraying. Her daughter weighed 6.6 pounds at the age of three months. Her skin began shredding and she could not bear to have skin contact or simple demonstrations of love. She died at 17 months, weighing 6.6 pounds. Ms. To described a woman who gave birth to a "ball" with no human form. Many children are born without brains; others make inhuman sounds.
Rosemarie Hohn Mizo is the widow of George Mizo, who served in the US Army in Vietnam in 1967. He slept on contaminated ground and consumed food and drink that were also contaminated. George refused to serve after he was wounded for the third time; he was court-martialed and sentenced to 2-1/2 years in prison and a dishonorable discharge. George helped found the Friendship Village where Vietnamese victims live in a supportive environment. He died from conditions related to his exposure to Agent Orange.
Georges Doussin, co-founder of the Friendship Village, visited a dormitory where he saw 50 highly deformed "monsters," who produced inhuman sounds. One man whose parent had been exposed to Agent Orange had four toes on each foot. Doussin said Agent Orange creates "total anarchy in evolution."
Dr. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Phuong, from Tu Du Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), sees many children born without arms and/or legs, without heads or faces, and without a brain chamber. According to the World Health Organization, only 1-4 parts per trillion (PPT) of Dioxin in breast milk can cause severe deformities in fetuses and even death. But up to 1,450 PPT are found in maternal milk in Vietnam.
Dr. Jeanne Stellman, who wrote the seminal article about Agent Orange in the magazine Nature, testified that "this is the largest unstudied environmental disaster in the world (except for natural disasters)."
Dr. Jean Grassman, from Brooklyn College at City University of New York, testified that Dioxin is a potent cellular disregulator that alters a variety of pathways to disrupt many systems. Children, she said, are very sensitive to Dioxin; the intrauterine or postnatal exposure to Dioxin may result in altered immune, neurobehavioral and hormonal functioning. Women pass their exposure to their children, both in utero and through the excretion of Dioxin in breast milk.
Many ecosystems have been destroyed and Dioxin continues to poison Vietnam, especially in the several "hot spots."
Chemist Dr. Pierre Vermeulin testified that it was estimated that $1 billion would be required to restore one hectare of land in Vietnam. The cost of caring for the victims, many of whom need 24-hour care, is enormous.
In 1973, President Richard Nixon promised $3.25 billion in reconstruction aid to Vietnam "without any preconditions." That aid was never granted.
There are only 11 Friendship Villages in Vietnam; 1,000 are needed to care for the child victims of Agent Orange.
Last week, the Bureau of the IADL, meeting in Hanoi, presented President Nguyen Minh Triet of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam with the final decision of the Tribunal. The judges found the US government and the chemical companies guilty of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and ecocide during the illegal US war of aggression in Vietnam. We recommended that the Agent Orange Commission be established in Vietnam to assess the damages suffered by the people and destruction of the environment, and that the US government and the chemical companies provide compensation for the damage and destruction.
I told the president that it always struck me that even as US bombs were dropping on the people of Vietnam, they always distinguished between the American government and the American people. The president responded, "We fought the forces of aggression but we always reserved our love for the people of America ... because we knew they always supported us."
An estimated 3 million Vietnamese people were killed in the war, which also claimed 58,000 American lives. For many other Vietnamese and US veterans and their families, the war continues to take its toll.
Several treaties the United States has ratified require an effective remedy for violations of human rights. It is time to make good on Nixon's promise and remedy the terrible wrong the US government perpetrated on the people of Vietnam. Congress must pass legislation to compensate the Vietnamese victims of Agent Orange as it did for the US Vietnam veteran victims.
Our government must know that it cannot continue to use weapons that target and harm civilians. Indeed, the US military is using depleted uranium in Iraq and Afghanistan, which will poison those countries for incalculable decades.
--------
Marjorie Cohn, a professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law and president of the National Lawyers Guild, served as a judge on the International Peoples' Tribunal of Conscience in Support of the Vietnamese Victims of Agent Orange. She is a member of the Bureau of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers, and co-author of "Rules of Disengagement: The Politics and Honor of Military Dissent."
Brooklyn, NY -- Radio shock-jock Hal Turner delivered a stinging upset to the federal government today when Jurors in his criminal trial told the judge they were "hopelessly deadlocked."
Expecting the jury vote to be lopsided in favor of the government, prosecutors and the judge in the case were utterly stunned when it was revealed that Jurors had voted 9 NOT GUILTY to 3 guilty!
Making this even more stunning is that Turner did not offer any defense -- his lawyers called no witnesses and presented no evidence, but instead tore into the governments own evidence and own witnesses almost totally discrediting the government's case.
Turner was arrested by the FBI on June 24, twenty days after posting on his blog that three federal judges on the 7th U.S. Citcuit Court of Appeals were "traitors" to the United States who "deserve to be killed" for violating the US Constitution and for intentionally ignoring a recent ruling by the US Supreme Court.
The FBI charged Turner with "threatening to assault and murder" the three judges! Turner was held in federal prison for 119 days without Bail before being released on $500,000 cash only.
The government contends that saying the Judges "deserve to be killed" is a threat to actually kill them. Turner's lawyers argued that saying someone "deserves" anything is merely an opinion. Opinions, be they oral or written, are protected free speech.
Clearly, the Jury agreed since 75% of Jurors voted NOT Guilty.
In a troubling development, one of the Jurors who voted GUILTY was interviewed by the New York Daily News and revealed something startling: Instead of applying the law as he swore to do, the Juror told reporters "[Turner] "He's a publicity seeker and he wants to be a bigger force than he was. By acquitting him, he would become bigger and stronger." (CLICK HERE FOR THE NY DAILY NEWS STORY)
It is not the role of a juror to decide to convict someone for any reason other than for breaking the law. The fact that this juror admits that another reason drove his decision shows that political considerations came into play; something that is forbidden in Jury trials.
PROSECUTOR WHINES ABOUT THIS FAMILY BLOG
In another interesting development, Assistant U.S. Attorney William Hogan asked the court to gag Defense Attorneys from speaking to the media and also asked the court to order this "Family of Hal Turner" blog shut down!
The judge instructed Defense attorneys to stop talking to the media but declined to order this blog shut down.
"The U.S. Attorney is clearly ashamed of his ongoing vicious assault upon freedom of speech and wants to operate in secret" said one person attending today's trial. "That's how government
goons like to operate - in secret" she continued.
We are able to tell you that the most prestigious program in broadcast TV news, "60 Minutes" had a camera crew at the Brooklyn federal courthouse today while two executive producers from that show sat in the courtroom during Turner's trial earlier this week. The fact that the most-viewed news program in the world is interested in the shenanigans taking place in this case is a good sign.
We wonder what Assistant US Attorneys William Hogan and William Ridgway will do when they arrive at work one day to a "60 Minutes" news crew asking them why they are prosecuting an American citizen for uttering an opinion.
It ought to be fun to watch them try to squirm their way out of that on national TV!
JUDGE HAS SOME EXPLAINING TO DO TOO
What makes the Turner case so astounding is that federal district Judge Donald Walter who is presiding over the case, turned his back on more than 40 years of Supreme Court case law and allowed the case against Turner to proceed.
It is long settled in the USA that advocating violence is lawful as long as it is done in a context which does not lend itself to imminent lawlessness. That precedent was established in the case "Brandenberg v. Ohio" back in 1969 and has been rock-solid free speech case law ever since.
We suspect that "60 Minutes" might ask Judge Walter if he chose to ignore "Brandenberg" because his knickers are in a twist over the nasty remarks Turner made about his fellow judges.
Birds of a feather. . . . .
Hal Turner's trial has been re-scheduled for March 1.
Mistrial in case of Internet shock jock Harold (Hal) Turner, charged with threatening to kill judges
By John Marzulli
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Originally Published:Monday, December 7th 2009, 2:49 PM
Updated: Monday, December 7th 2009, 3:12 PM
Ward for News
Internet shock jock Hal Turner blogged that three Illinois judges 'deserved to die' for upholding a local gun ban.
Take our PollShock jocks
Do you think free speech covers 'threats' or rants made by radio shock jocks?
Yes
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Federal judges to take stand in trial of New Jersey shock jock
Jurors deadlocked Monday in the Brooklyn trial of an Internet radio shock-jock charged with threatening to kill three Illinois federal appellate judges.
A mistrial was declared after the jury deadlocked 9 to 3 in favor of acquitting Harold (Hal) Turner who was originally indicted in Illinois, where the three judges preside on the U.S. Court of Appeals.
"I did think he (Turner) was a threat," juror Richard Gardener, 58, of Long Island, told reporters outside the courtroom.
"He's a publicity seeker and he wants to be a bigger force than he was. By acquitting him, he would become bigger and stronger."
The trial was moved to Brooklyn after defense lawyers argued he could not receive a fair trial in the same Illinois courthouse where the targeted judges worked.
Enraged by their decision upholding a local ban on handguns, Turner ranted on his blog that Judges Frank Easterbrook, Richard Posner and William Bauer "deserved to die." He also posted photos of them, the courthouse and a Google map pinpointing the location of the courthouse.
"Thomas Jefferson, one of our Founding Fathers, told us, 'The tree of liberty must be replenished from time to time with the blood of tyrants and patriots.' It is time to replenish the tree," Turner said on his Web site.
Assistant U.S. Attorney William Hogan called Turner a "domestic terrorist" trying to incite his radical fans to violence, and rejected claims he was merely exercising his First Amendment right to be outrageous like Howard Stern and Don Imus.
Defense lawyer Nishay Sanan likened his client's comments to someone wearing a T-shirt that says, "Skateboard or Die."
The trial abruptly ended with the government calling only six federal agents and not the judges as planned.
"Evidentiary rulings shaped our trial strategy," Hogan said.
Louisiana Federal Judge Donald Walter, who was assigned the case, refused to lift a gag order on Turner and scheduled a retrial for March 1.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2009/12/07/2009-12-07_mistrial_in_internet_shock_jock_harold_hal_turner_case_charged_with_threatening_.html
Expecting the jury vote to be lopsided in favor of the government, prosecutors and the judge in the case were utterly stunned when it was revealed that Jurors had voted 9 NOT GUILTY to 3 guilty!
Making this even more stunning is that Turner did not offer any defense -- his lawyers called no witnesses and presented no evidence, but instead tore into the governments own evidence and own witnesses almost totally discrediting the government's case.
Turner was arrested by the FBI on June 24, twenty days after posting on his blog that three federal judges on the 7th U.S. Citcuit Court of Appeals were "traitors" to the United States who "deserve to be killed" for violating the US Constitution and for intentionally ignoring a recent ruling by the US Supreme Court.
The FBI charged Turner with "threatening to assault and murder" the three judges! Turner was held in federal prison for 119 days without Bail before being released on $500,000 cash only.
The government contends that saying the Judges "deserve to be killed" is a threat to actually kill them. Turner's lawyers argued that saying someone "deserves" anything is merely an opinion. Opinions, be they oral or written, are protected free speech.
Clearly, the Jury agreed since 75% of Jurors voted NOT Guilty.
In a troubling development, one of the Jurors who voted GUILTY was interviewed by the New York Daily News and revealed something startling: Instead of applying the law as he swore to do, the Juror told reporters "[Turner] "He's a publicity seeker and he wants to be a bigger force than he was. By acquitting him, he would become bigger and stronger." (CLICK HERE FOR THE NY DAILY NEWS STORY)
It is not the role of a juror to decide to convict someone for any reason other than for breaking the law. The fact that this juror admits that another reason drove his decision shows that political considerations came into play; something that is forbidden in Jury trials.
PROSECUTOR WHINES ABOUT THIS FAMILY BLOG
In another interesting development, Assistant U.S. Attorney William Hogan asked the court to gag Defense Attorneys from speaking to the media and also asked the court to order this "Family of Hal Turner" blog shut down!
The judge instructed Defense attorneys to stop talking to the media but declined to order this blog shut down.
"The U.S. Attorney is clearly ashamed of his ongoing vicious assault upon freedom of speech and wants to operate in secret" said one person attending today's trial. "That's how government
goons like to operate - in secret" she continued.
We are able to tell you that the most prestigious program in broadcast TV news, "60 Minutes" had a camera crew at the Brooklyn federal courthouse today while two executive producers from that show sat in the courtroom during Turner's trial earlier this week. The fact that the most-viewed news program in the world is interested in the shenanigans taking place in this case is a good sign.
We wonder what Assistant US Attorneys William Hogan and William Ridgway will do when they arrive at work one day to a "60 Minutes" news crew asking them why they are prosecuting an American citizen for uttering an opinion.
It ought to be fun to watch them try to squirm their way out of that on national TV!
JUDGE HAS SOME EXPLAINING TO DO TOO
What makes the Turner case so astounding is that federal district Judge Donald Walter who is presiding over the case, turned his back on more than 40 years of Supreme Court case law and allowed the case against Turner to proceed.
It is long settled in the USA that advocating violence is lawful as long as it is done in a context which does not lend itself to imminent lawlessness. That precedent was established in the case "Brandenberg v. Ohio" back in 1969 and has been rock-solid free speech case law ever since.
We suspect that "60 Minutes" might ask Judge Walter if he chose to ignore "Brandenberg" because his knickers are in a twist over the nasty remarks Turner made about his fellow judges.
Birds of a feather. . . . .
Hal Turner's trial has been re-scheduled for March 1.
Mistrial in case of Internet shock jock Harold (Hal) Turner, charged with threatening to kill judges
By John Marzulli
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Originally Published:Monday, December 7th 2009, 2:49 PM
Updated: Monday, December 7th 2009, 3:12 PM
Ward for News
Internet shock jock Hal Turner blogged that three Illinois judges 'deserved to die' for upholding a local gun ban.
Take our PollShock jocks
Do you think free speech covers 'threats' or rants made by radio shock jocks?
Yes
No
Related News
Articles
Federal judges to take stand in trial of New Jersey shock jock
Jurors deadlocked Monday in the Brooklyn trial of an Internet radio shock-jock charged with threatening to kill three Illinois federal appellate judges.
A mistrial was declared after the jury deadlocked 9 to 3 in favor of acquitting Harold (Hal) Turner who was originally indicted in Illinois, where the three judges preside on the U.S. Court of Appeals.
"I did think he (Turner) was a threat," juror Richard Gardener, 58, of Long Island, told reporters outside the courtroom.
"He's a publicity seeker and he wants to be a bigger force than he was. By acquitting him, he would become bigger and stronger."
The trial was moved to Brooklyn after defense lawyers argued he could not receive a fair trial in the same Illinois courthouse where the targeted judges worked.
Enraged by their decision upholding a local ban on handguns, Turner ranted on his blog that Judges Frank Easterbrook, Richard Posner and William Bauer "deserved to die." He also posted photos of them, the courthouse and a Google map pinpointing the location of the courthouse.
"Thomas Jefferson, one of our Founding Fathers, told us, 'The tree of liberty must be replenished from time to time with the blood of tyrants and patriots.' It is time to replenish the tree," Turner said on his Web site.
Assistant U.S. Attorney William Hogan called Turner a "domestic terrorist" trying to incite his radical fans to violence, and rejected claims he was merely exercising his First Amendment right to be outrageous like Howard Stern and Don Imus.
Defense lawyer Nishay Sanan likened his client's comments to someone wearing a T-shirt that says, "Skateboard or Die."
The trial abruptly ended with the government calling only six federal agents and not the judges as planned.
"Evidentiary rulings shaped our trial strategy," Hogan said.
Louisiana Federal Judge Donald Walter, who was assigned the case, refused to lift a gag order on Turner and scheduled a retrial for March 1.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2009/12/07/2009-12-07_mistrial_in_internet_shock_jock_harold_hal_turner_case_charged_with_threatening_.html
FROM THE COMMENTS SECTION OF NY DAILY NEWS:
What is the difference between what this clown did and what Bill O'Reilly did on TV outing the abortion doctor in Kansas (I think it was Kansas) with his photo and his address? The result was the abortion doctor was shot to death in his own church by some right wing nut. If some idiot took this 'shock jock's' advice and shot these three judges, I believe the trial outcome would be significantly different. I certainly believe in the 1st amendment but yelling fire in a crowded theatre when there is NO fire is NOT protected speech. This clown should have been convicted, period!
Joepotter1... Tell it like it is.. These neofascist love to hide behind the constitution and bill of rights when it applies to them only.
Since Hal can't speak,I'll do it for him.The government has been after Hal ever since he cost certain people big money by revealing the results of the banks' stress tests.John Scopes is turning over now.
How many people have been killed as a result of Hal's outstanding broadcasting career?Now how many have died as a result of Al Sharpton's community organizing?
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