Column: The strange, costly case of developer Billy Walters rides on ... and on

Any sports bettor worth his picks knows the bottom line. The final figure is the one that counts.

The bottom line divides the lobster-eating geniuses from the mopes in the Taco Bell drive-through. When everyone is finished talking a good game, the bottom line separates the winners from the losers.

So it is with the state's four-year, three-indictment money laundering mess involving high-rolling gambler and golf course developer Billy Walters.

On Dec. 7, 1996, police, carrying search warrants and acting on information gleaned from a New York investigation, raided Walters' Sierra Sports betting office, gathered up his computer equipment and froze his accounts. In all, $2.8 million in cash was seized.

Allegations of illegal bookmaking were rampant, but a sober check of the facts found Walters and his crew were placing bets, not taking them. Walters, known for his public-private golf course developments and keen political contacts, came away untarnished by the illegal-bookmaking suspicions.

But then the legal focus shifted from bookmaking to money laundering, and the fight continued. After District Attorney Stewart Bell's office was conflicted out, state Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa took the case and assigned it to Deputy Attorney General David Thompson in January 1997 with Clark County agreeing to pay the legal tab.

More than three years later, three grand jury indictments have been dismissed by two different judges, the latest coming Friday from District Judge Mark Gibbons.

Friday's announcement was greeted with cheers of victory from the defense, but I'm not so sure this fight is over. The first dismissal, you may recall, was reinstated on appeal by the Nevada Supreme Court. The second and third dismissals have yet to run their course on appeal, and sources say a fourth attempt to indict is not out of the question.

For all the case's shortcomings and the criticism heaped upon prosecutor Thompson, three different grand juries have agreed there was probable cause to indict Walters.

Gibbons tossed the recent indictment and criticized Thompson for failing to focus a New York detective's grand jury testimony on the subject of organized crime in the case. The detective's inflammatory rhetoric failed to connect the defendants to the mob, but surely shaded the grand jury's opinion.

At the bottom line, Walters figures that having his $2.8 million frozen in an interest-bearing account has cost him more than $840,000 in interest he has had to pay thanks to his legal troubles. Add to that another $80,000 he paid to have a lien lifted on the Desert Pines Golf Course, and he's out nearly $1 million plus the use of his $2.8 million. Then add what he estimates is $500,000 in computer and related equipment ruined in the 1996 raid.

Now for the big money. Walters estimates he's had to pay an increase of up to 4 points on loans for various golf course developments he's taken out from secondary lending sources -- after his prime sources dropped him over the money laundering indictments. Three loans totaled $90 million at approximately 12 percent interest. That's a lot of extra juice.

He also has spent in excess of $1 million in legal fees for himself and three co-defendants.

Is it $5 million, or $10 million? Any way you crunch the numbers, it adds up to real money.

Then there's the dollars spent by the police and prosecution. It's hard to imagine less than $1 million has been spent on the investigation.

For his part, Walters says he's unafraid of anything the police might have generated about his business practices or personal associations. He's so confident, in fact, that he agreed to a request to allow access to whatever case files might have been developed. That is, if the police and prosecutor are willing to open the files and let in a little sunshine.

The bottom line?

Sheriff Jerry Keller and Attorney General Del Papa can agree to let this extremely costly case die quietly, or they can patch up the bloodied Thompson and send him in for Round Four.

The odds favor this strange case heading back to court - again.

John L. Smith's column appears Wednesday. E-mail him at Smith@lasvegas.com or call him at (702) 383-0295.