A gambler in a tribal casino in Alpine, California, at the bottom, claims that in 2016 she won an Aston Martin Vantage GT from 2016. The casino says that it has broken the competition rules.
Suppose you thought you won a car of $ 134,000 in a casino account, but the dealer involved in the match refused to hand over the keys? And to make matters worse, you are still hit with possible tax liability based on the value of the vehicle.
That's what Merida Manipoun, a gambler in a tribal casino in Alpine, California, disputes in May 2016 when she did not get the Aston Martin Vantage GT 2016 she believes she won. In November, she continued the Aston Martin store that participated in the promotion of fraud, conspiracy and breach of contract.
But Aston Martin of San Diego and race organizer Viejas Casino & Resort, owned by the Kumeyaay tribe, say Manipoun was disqualified because she did not obey the rules of the competition.
Last month, the district court of the American district of Anthony Battaglia of the southern district of California refused to dismiss the proceedings against the shop and the seller on procedural grounds, but their lawyer said he would ask to have it treated as unfounded. .
Manipoun "failed to find any evidence to support its fraud claim against the casino and the dealer," dealer Phillip Samouris from San Diego told Automotive News. "On her recent statement, she admitted that the dealer and the casino staff did not make any substantive statements, let alone fraudulent statements."
Viejas Casino was not accused because her property protects her from liability, Lonnie Vining, lawyer of Manipoun, told Automotive News.
Samouris said the casino reversed its erroneous issue of the 1099 tax form and Manipoun "should not have been subject to tax."
But Vining said that the IRS still owed and owed the taxes as & # 39; & # 39; considers. Here is the Manipoun version of events as outlined in judicial archives:
She said she was playing a large amount of money with different slot machines. If she did, she thought, that would increase her chances in car drawing.
When Manipoun's name was drawn, she was publicly congratulated and posed for promotional photos, according to her account in the court documents.
But she claims that she had then "escorted to a back room and subjected to a sales pitch under high pressure" in an attempt to persuade her "to abandon her right to the car" and instead to accept a minimal compensation of money " based on the apparent theory that it could afford considerable tax benefits. "She refused to give up her claim on the car, and when she went to the dealer to pick up the vehicle, dealership dealers said she had no paperwork proved that she was entitled to the car and therefore could not give it to her.
The suspects offer an opposite version:
Manipoun broke the rule that participants had to use the loyalty club card of the casino and only their own bets on the slots to be more likely to win.
Samouris said that Manipoun's companion played on her casino rewards card in violation of the rules of the casino and thereby improperly noted in the drawing. " Surveillance images confirmed that, according to a court complaint.
The dealer was not involved in the disqualification decision, said Samouris. He said that dealers only earn money in promotions when cars are given away. "So they have no reason to prevent casino customers from winning cars – they certainly have not done that."