Sheldon Player Last Seen at Grand Victoria Casino with his Paramour

by Christopher Menkin

“Welcome to Grand Victoria Casino in beautiful Elgin, Illinois. Perched atop the spectacular Fox River, Grand Victoria Casino boasts over 1,100 exciting slots, a countless variety of Vegas-style table games, acclaimed gaming promotions and giveaways, four extraordinary restaurants, including award-winning Buckinghams, and unparalleled customer service. It all makes Grand Victoria Casino the best gaming, dining, and entertainment destination in all of Chicagoland.”

Donald Lawson says he spent three years working for Equipment Acquisition Resources (EAR), Palatine, Illinois, at the plant changing serial number tags on equipment that was not working, as well as traveling with Sheldon Player on his gambling sprees across the United States. He told Leasing News Sheldon had the right last name: “Player.”

He also verified that Sheldon is living with his wife in Algonquin, Illinois. He ran across Leasing News on Google asking where Player was now living, asking Player to call us, so he decided to call in and tell us about the three years he spent with Sheldon Player. In an exclusive interview, giving permission to use his name he says he still gets court records sent to him, and puzzles why Player is not in jail. Lawson said he now knows the full timeline story and didn’t start catching on until the vendors started visiting EAR in Palatine, asking for money, wanting to see Sheldon’s wife—then they starting asking for Mark Anstett— and he was surprised as he thought Sheldon was the man in charge.

None of this was verified, but from the telephone interview, he certainly knew the names of those who were handling the leases at the company, something not published but that Leasing News has known for quite some time, as well as other details that lead this writer to believe he was who he said he was.

In the story about the FBI stopping Player at the Denver airport, coming from Las Vegas, Nevada with $900,000 in cash in his duffle bag, Lawson said Sheldon called him and wanted him to drive the cash up from Las Vegas, but Lawson’s wife was sick, and he could not. He further says the FBI let the money go back to Sheldon Player as they verified he had won the money in Las Vegas. It was legally his.

According to Lawson, Player is still hitting the casinos (more on this later in the story). Player was a big winner, according to Lawson, who once visited one of his homes and was shown a closet full of cash, neatly stacked, that Player said was over $2 million. Asked why he had so much cash in the closet, Player told him he was “saving for a rainy day.” He reportedly also had cash hidden of equal amounts in other locations.

(Sheldon Player in Wyoming)

The routine, according to Lawson, was he would accompany Player to the casino, cash a company check for $100,000 (the amount varied, sometimes less, sometimes more), sometimes a cashier’s check also from Equipment Acquisition Resource check, which he was told was an investment check. Player would then would put $10,000 in his pocket, and gamble with the rest. Often he gambled on the casino’s marker, but also brought along a check to have at least $10,000 to $20,000 in cash–always.

Accordingly Player was a big winner, a top gambler, and casino’s treated him like royalty. He was given large suites, champagne, anything he wanted and treated as if he were a Saudia Arabian King. He always wanted to have cash on him. And wasn’t ashamed to often display it.

Lawson soon learned why he was brought along in the gambling trips
all over the United States, often by Casino or private plane.

Lawson remembers the first time Player saw a gorgeous cocktail waitress and wanted Lawson to introduce him to her. Lawson told him, “You’re married.” Player responded, “She’s not here.” Lawson found out that was one of his main jobs, telling the cocktail waitresses Player pointed out that he had a lot of cash; and was very generous with all the cash he had on him. Many of the waitresses told Lawson they wouldn’t sleep with Player but would go out with him. Others told Lawson they wouldn’t sleep with Player unless there was a lot of cash. Player was generous with all of them, Leasing News was told.

Player would have favorite waitresses at various casino’s, Lawson said. He reportedly even bought a waitress a house. On one particular house Player wanted the name to be in Lawson’s name, about the time the business was being forced to close, and Player would put 50% down and then give monthly give cash for Lawson to make the mortgage payments. He said “no.”

Lawson said he was beginning to figure out what was going on at Equipment Acquisition Resources by the vendors coming over and wanting money, and knew he would soon be unemployed.

According to Lawson, Player had a lot of real estate, mostly in his childrens names, and he would use his casino winnings for the property.

One of Player’s favorite girlfriends is reportedly Melissa Jensen, who Player recently took to the Grand Victoria Casino, Elgin, Illinois (“Perched atop the spectacular Fox River”). It seems Player doesn’t play at the tables anymore, perhaps they know him or maybe he doesn’t want them to know him. What he does is gives the cash to his girlfriend to play —and also other girlfriends —he still sees from time to time and they play at the table. He named off a series of casino’s Player still visits.

Lawson said Player’s last name really suited him. In fact, he said seven of his girlfriends still call him on a regular basis asking when he is coming back into town.

Mark Anstett, former president of Equipment Acquisition Resources, who filed personal bankruptcy, and Player would talk together, Lawson relates, but when he came up to them for a question about what he was doing, they would talk in code. Lawson knew the equipment didn’t work, and was told to change the serial numbers as he thought they were to be repaired or replaced. He would talk to the women who handled placing leases for the company, but never knew what was going on as his job was in another part of the building and he was being well paid by Sheldon for basically being his traveling companion and driver.

Sheldon Player has a Bankruptcy trustee judgment against him from the bankruptcy trustee in the amount of $18,323,404 plus costs of $275.00 against for his failure to appear and to file responsive pleading to Plaintiff’s Complaint, and for any additional relief this Court deems necessary. Reportedly he was not able to found to be served and received this default judgment.

First Premier Capital, Edina, Minnesota, according to court documents, consisted of Steve Alpeter, Bill Kelly, both of Minnesota, and Denny Sanford, South Dakota, filed a complaint for $30,365,558.29 against the accountants of both Equipment Acquisition Resources and Sheldon Player, as an individual. The accountants are VonLehman, an Ohio corporation located in Cincinnati.

The Las Vegas Sun reported, “The suit against Wynn sought return, for the benefit of EAR creditors, of the $1.785 million. The trustee also sought $236,500 from the Luxor, $471,000 from the Rio and $30,000 from Harrah’s.

“Court records show the administrator has also been looking into at least $4.3 million in payments to the Horseshoe Casino in Hammond, Ind., $584,000 in payments to the Ameristar Casino in East Chicago, Ind., and at least $30,000 to the Palms hotel-casino in Las Vegas. Complaints, however, have not been filed against those properties.

“Among the casinos sued, Wynn so far is the first and only defendant to answer the complaint and last week it disputed the assertions the $1.785 million should be paid back.”

And there is an IRS suit regarding overpayment that the trustee is trying to have returned from the IRS.

The FBI Chicago Office did not return telephone or email inquiries regarding the status if any legal action against Sheldon Player. He was convicted of a similar activity as reported by Leasing News to alert readers almost two years before the debacle came down. Everyone Leasing News communicates with wonders what is taking so long to build a case against him.
 

Equipment Acquisition Resources -Busted!
http://www.leasingnews.org/Conscious-Top%20Stories/Sheldon_Player.htm