Posted on 10/12/2001 6:01:02 AM PDT by summer
Stadium Naples: ESPN founder Rasmussen a figure in corruption probe
Friday, October 12, 2001
By LARRY HANNAN, ljhannan@naplesnews.com
It sounded so good back in October 1996.
That was when ESPN founder Bill Rasmussen announced plans for his Stadium Naples brainstorm — a golf and real estate venture with a stadium-style arena surrounding the final hole of a tournament golf course. It was expected to bring major golf events to the area and increase the prestige of Naples while bringing in tourists and other revenue.
When completed, the $100 million project would have encompassed 1,300 to 1,600 acres, with a 300,000-square-foot stadium and residential homes flanking 54 golf holes.
Naples' stop on the senior PGA tournament, controlled by Rasmussen, was an intended highlight for Stadium Naples. The tournament was to be key to the project's success.
Rasmussen lobbied Collier County commissioners to bail out the financially failing golf tournament in 1996 and 1997 with a total of $1 million in grants from county tourist tax money.
Stadium Naples was never built on its proposed site next to Interstate 75 in North Naples, however. And no one could have imagined what would later unfold.
The failed project is at the center of an ever-expanding corruption probe that has led to the arrest of 10 people, including Rasmussen, three former Collier County commissioners and a longtime county manager.
In the beginning, Rasmussen was the marquee name behind Stadium Naples.
He never hesitated to tout himself as ESPN's founder. In 1994, Sports Illustrated recognized him as one of the individuals who had the greatest impact on the world of sports over the past 40 years.
But what Rasmussen didn't always mention was that he left ESPN before it became the media giant it is today. He founded the company in 1979, but by the end of 1980 had stepped down from a decision-making role in the company and left as a member of the board of directors in 1981.
At that point, ESPN was still losing money. It didn't make a profit until the mid-1980s.
Friday, ESPN officials had little comment when informed of Rasmussen's arrest.
"He founded ESPN in 1979 but he hasn't been involved in the company since 1984 when he sold his last share," ESPN spokesman Dan Quinn said. "He's such a distant part of our history. He hasn't been involved with us in a long time."
Those involved with Rasmussen in Stadium Naples included then-Commissioner John Norris, Paul Hardy, Renee Tolson and David Mobley — a primary financial backer. Then-County Manager Neil Dorrill resigned in February 1997 to become president of Stadium Naples.
Commissioners voted to waive audits for the project in January 1997, nearly concealing that $200,000 in county money was misspent on the grants in violation of county contracts. That amount included $128,000 to cover the prize money debt of Rasmussen's company, IntelliNet, and a $68,000 padded bill, according to county auditors.
The audit waivers became controversial because Norris' partnership role wasn't disclosed when the project was announced. When news of Norris' no-money-down stake — valued at $7.5 million at the time — broke in July 1997, the project was derailed for the first of two times.
Some leaders in the community began to call for a criminal probe into the project.
Not long after the first deal collapsed, Rasmussen launched an effort to resurrect his Stadium Naples plans with the brokerage A.S. Goldmen & Co.
The partner in the deal was a financially failing New Jersey company named Millennium Sports Management Inc. that Goldmen & Co. had taken public in the early 1990s.
To pump up Millennium's stock price, Goldmen brokers began hyping a planned partnership between Millennium and Rasmussen in summer 1997 — before the deal's public announcement in October 1997, regulators say.
Relying on Rasmussen's name as ESPN founder, brokers told customers he had the golden touch and his partnership with Millennium on Stadium Naples would make Millennium's stock price soar.
In a private side deal, A.S. Goldmen began raising an initial $10 million to build the stadium. Of that, Rasmussen and his son, Glenn, were to earn $1 million up front, a far more lucrative fee than for the original Stadium Naples plan.
But the deal never went through. Rasmussen cut ties with A.S. Goldmen in June 1998 after New York authorities raided A.S. Goldmen's offices in April 1998. Millennium's stock price tanked and today the shares are virtually worthless.
In July 2001, a New York jury convicted A.S. Goldmen and its Naples owner, Anthony Marchiano, of racketeering, including charges that brokers defrauded investors when hyping the Stadium Naples project.
Southwest Florida State Attorney Joe D'Alessandro was among A.S. Goldmen's clients. Controversy ensued after revelations that D'Alessandro purchased Millennium stock during his initial bribery investigation of Rasmussen's first Stadium Naples deal. D'Alessandro's office declined to file charges after that investigation.
Rasmussen left Naples in April 1999 under a cloud of golf tournament and charity debts and allegations about misspending $1 million in county taxpayer money. The more than $700,000 he promised to the Quest for Kids charity as proceeds of the senior golf tournament in 1998 never materialized.
In June 1999, Gov. Jeb Bush asked federal prosecutors to reopen an investigation of Stadium Naples. Federal prosecutors later closed their investigation after D'Alessandro's office pursued their case further. After some of the initial arrests, D'Alessandro's office was replaced on the case by a special prosecutor from Miami-Dade County.
Rasmussen refused to talk to investigators about the project until October 2000. Prosecutors in D'Alessandro's office granted Rasmussen a limited form of protection against self-incrimination, documents that are now public show. The special prosecutor said a statement that Rasmussen gave to get limited immunity won't be used in his prosecution.
Throughout his more than three-hour interview with prosecutors in October 2000, Rasmussen portrayed himself as a back-seat player in the development part of the Stadium Naples deal. He didn't agree to Norris' stake, but just kept silent because he was focused on getting his $150,000 licensing fee for the "concept."
It was Hardy, in a meeting, who suggested that Norris and Rasmussen evenly split a 25 percent partnership cut, Rasmussen told the former prosecutors on the case.
Staff Writer Gina Edwards contributed to this report.
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