A judge said he would issue an arrest warrant for Las Vegas sports betting figure David Oancea on Thursday after Oancea failed to appear in court to be taken into custody.
After being held in contempt of court in a civil suit, Oancea was ordered to turn over assets or spend time behind bars.
He was supposed to appear in front of District Judge Joe Hardy to surrender. Oancea’s lawyers showed up, but he did not.
Attorney Alex LeVeque told the judge that Oancea had “been apprised of the contempt order.”
Following the hearing, the attorney declined to comment on Oancea’s location or even if he knew where Oancea was.
Hardy said he would issue a no bail bench warrant for Oancea’s failure to comply with “purge” conditions and appear at the hearing.
Last July, District Judge Timothy Williams ordered 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,” claims 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, District Judge Tara Clark Newberry found in her order holding him in contempt.
Clark Newberry gave Oancea two options to “purge” his contempt.
One option required him to hand over the Mille watch and three Birkin bags, or cash in lieu of those items, plus over $375,000 in cryptocurrency and a power of attorney agreement giving Cabo Platinum principal Mishan Andre authority related to his interest in Mexican properties.
The other option was for him to surrender and remain incarcerated until he followed the order.
As of Wednesday, Cabo Platinum attorney Dan McNutt said Oancea had not satisfied the conditions.
“I am not in possession of any of the items,” LeVeque told McNutt in an email filed with the court.
Oancea was initially supposed to surrender on Aug. 6 to be taken into custody. Hardy delayed surrender by one week to see if the Nevada Supreme Court would weigh in on an emergency filing from Oancea.
The Supreme Court refused to pause the contempt order in a two-page ruling Aug. 5.
Oancea did not respond to an emailed request for comment Thursday.
In the most recent post on his Instagram account, just a few days before Clark Newberry’s contempt order, Oancea is shown on what appears to be a private plane.
“Wheels up,” the post says, with a couple of airplane emojis. “#borabora.”
Contact Noble Brigham at nbrigham@reviewjournal.com.
