A judge is holding a Las Vegas sports betting figure in contempt of court and threatening to put him behind bars unless he quickly turns over assets.
“The record shows that the Court has issued monetary sanctions against Oancea for contempt multiple times, but he has never paid them voluntarily or ceased violating court orders,” said District Judge Tara Clark Newberry’s Friday decision.
Last July, District Judge Timothy Williams ordered David Oancea to pay $30.2 million to an upscale vacation rental agency in Mexico called Cabo Platinum, which accused him of sabotaging rental reservations for his properties in Mexico.
Oancea, known as “Vegas Dave,” boasts more than 9 million Instagram followers and was featured in the Showtime docuseries “Action” about the sports gambling world.
He was ordered not to block access to properties or interfere with agreed-upon rentals but did not comply, according to court documents.
Williams ordered Oancea to turn over his Richard Mille watch, Birkin bags, cryptocurrency holdings and interests in three Mexican properties within two weeks of a September hearing.
Oancea then claimed the property no longer belonged to him and did not turn over any of it, Clark Newberry found. He testified during a six-day evidentiary hearing, but the judge’s order called some of his testimony “false” and said he had demonstrated “willful noncompliance.”
“This Court finds that Mr. Oancea was not a credible witness,” said Clark Newberry’s order, which drew from a proposed order submitted by Cabo Platinum attorneys. “His testimony was inconsistent, contradicted by documentary evidence and prior sworn statements, and was evasive and argumentative.”
The judge ordered that to “purge” his contempt, Oancea must hand over the Mille watch and three Birkin bags, or cash in lieu of those items, plus over $375,000 in cryptocurrency. He is also required to execute a power of attorney agreement giving Cabo Platinum principal Mishan Andre authority related to his interest in Mexican properties.
He must comply with those conditions by Aug. 5 or surrender and remain incarcerated until he follows the order, the ruling said.
Clark Newberry also awarded Cabo Platinum almost $294,000 in attorneys’ fees and $17,000 in costs.
“The Court expressly finds that any claimed inability to comply is self-created, strategic, and the result of voluntary acts to avoid compliance,” said the ruling.
Oancea and his attorneys did not respond to requests for comment Monday, but registered their displeasure in a filing.
“This matter arises from a routine property management dispute gone horribly wrong,” said defense attorneys Alex LeVeque, Ross Evans and Michael Desmond. “An ordinary contract case has morphed into a cautionary tale about the district courts’ enormous contempt powers and how, when wielded unconstitutionally, they can ruin a litigant’s life.”
The lawyers also made claims of misconduct against Cabo Platinum.
Andre has denied similar allegations in the past. “We operate ethically,” he said in a prior interview.
In a statement Monday, he praised Clark Newberry for her “patience and judicial temperament.”
“This litigation and Dave’s continued noncompliance have imposed an enormous burden on our company and threatened the client relationships our team worked so hard to build,” he said. “In my view, this was not merely an attack on our company, it was an affront to the authority of the Court and the judicial process.”
Contact Noble Brigham at nbrigham@reviewjournal.com.
