Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
LVCVA TIMELINE
MARCH 2017
A Review-Journal investigation finds excessive spending at the LVCVA. Among other things, it reveals about $60,000 in tax dollars spent on board travel, $30,000 for Tiffany bracelets for staff and $697,000 for alcohol in a threeyear period.
JUNE 2017
The ReviewJournal reveals that then-CEO Rossi Ralenkotter and former Mayor Oscar Goodman, an agency ambassador, used security staff to chauffeur them to events for personal trips.
NOVEMBER 2017
The Review-Journal reports that LVCVA couldn’t track or justify more than $100,000 in pricey gifts out of the agency’s warehouse
■ In response to the investigation, auditors recommend the convention authority limit board travel to one trip a year and to no more than $400 in gifts for board members. The board later approves the new policies.
APRIL 2018
An LVCVA audit report reveals that Ralenkotter used about $17,000 in Southwest Airlines gift cards on personal travel. Ralenkotter pays back the money and apologizes at a public meeting.
JUNE 2018
The gift card scandal widens after auditors disclose that they could not account for more than $50,000 of $90,000 in Southwest airlines gift cards bought by the LVCVA.
■ The ReviewJournal reports that Rossi Ralenkotter is considering an early retirement amid the gift card scandal.
■ Las Vegas police launch a criminal theft investigation into the convention authority’s misuse of the gift cards and obtain records from the agency.
AUGUST 2018
The LVCVA board approves a $455,000 retirement package for Rossi Ralenkotter, and he steps down two weeks later.
SEPTEMBER 2018
Steve Hill takes over as the convention authority’s new CEO and within days promises to change the LVCVA’s freespending culture.
■ The ReviewJournal reports that the Nevada Commission on Ethics is investigating the misuse of public funds over the Southwest Airlines gift card scandal.
■ The ReviewJournal reports Ralenkotter pursued $234,000 in paid time off despite records showing he failed to take nearly 300 hours of PTO when he was on vacation.
JANUARY 2019
Former LVCVA board chairman Lawrence Weekly agrees to pay the ethics commission $2,400 in fines for using $1,400 in Southwest gift cards on a personal trip with his daughter. The investigation of the LVCVA continues.