- 9 -
identify expenditures made on behalf of one or another of the
entities that supported some aspect of Ben's boat racing.
The most important of these entities was Fort Apache, Inc.
(Fort Apache), through which Ben and petitioner developed a
marina. They used Fort Apache to lease back the marina from
another entity known as Marina Bay Associates, ostensibly owned
by Lyon and Michael Gilbert. This partnership held legal title
to the marina in order to dissociate its assets from Ben's name.
In order to allow Ben to fund marina development while still
concealing his ownership role, Lyon used a funding scheme similar
to that used for the card club.10 Petitioner, acting as Ben's
agent, became the president and sole board member of Fort Apache,
although without an independent ownership interest of his own.
Ben and petitioner wanted to use the marina to help them
persuade Lamborghini Motor Co. to custom-build high-performance
engines for the boats that Apache Boats, Inc., built for Ben to
race. Funds to purchase land for the marina came through
Allsworth's trust account. Len-Ed Construction, Inc. (Len-Ed), a
10Ben's attempts to conceal his ownership of the marina and
the card club destroyed his ability to later liquidate and
recover his interests. None of the entities that legally owned
the marina or the card club reflected Ben's ownership interest as
initially arranged with Sam Gilbert. The "safeguards" for Ben's
interests that Sam Gilbert put into place included holding the
resignation letters of the principals of Marina Bay Associates
and LCP Associates. But, as petitioner testified, the only real
safeguard was Ben's trust in Sam Gilbert. This meant that Ben
had no recourse but to accept the consequences when the Gilberts
reneged on their various arrangements with him. The Gilberts had
the upper hand until Federal agents seized the various assets,
beginning with the marina in Aug. 1987. See infra pp. 11-12.
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