Caesars Entertainment could be on the hook from anywhere between $3.6 billion to $5.1 billion in damages, thanks to a series of transactions that lessened the viability of 
subsidiary Caesars Entertainment Operating Co. That’s the conclusion of court-appointed examiner Richard Davis, who’s spent the past year of his life unraveling the Caesars bankruptcy. (To add insult to injury, Caesars has to foot the bill for Davis’ time.) Posing the question of whether the removal of properties like Harrah’s New Orleans from CEOC precipitated its Chapter 11 filing, Davis provided his own reply: “The simple answer to this question is ‘yes’.” Davis’ 80-page report validates the claims of Appaloosa Management and other junior bondholders, who have accused Caesars of fraudulent conveyances that looted the company. They were pondering a $1.5 billion settlement offer from Caesars but are surely far less likely to accept it now.
Other plausible litigation claims, Davis said, included breaches of fiduciary duties by 
Caesars board members like Chairman Gary Loveman, not to mention Apollo Management and Texas Pacific Group, majority owners of Caesars. CEOC issued a statement saying the asset transfers (most notorious among them the sale of Total Rewards for zero dollars) were of “immense and indisputable benefit to CEOC and its creditors.” Yes, because bankruptcy is always so beneficial to those who are owed money. CEOC may have been insolvent as far back as 2008, Davis concluded, which raises the prospect of a cover-up. Having investigated the Watergate scandal, Davis knows a thing or two about cover-ups.
* Despite some Celtic heritage in my background, I don’t frequent Irish pubs. However, based on my limited experience in Las Vegas affirms that Thrillist got it pretty much right this time. I would argue that Ri Ra, in Mandalay Place, deserves the #2 or maybe even #1 spot, but McMullan’s has a familial warmth that tightens its grip on the top spot. The only place that doesn’t belong is McFadden’s (late of The Rio), which is nothing more than Hooters in a tam o’shanter.
