Moe found in contempt of court

Former Spokane Raceway Park operator Orville Moe was found in contempt of court Wednesday by a Superior Court judge who set a deadline when $1,000-a-day fines will begin for the 70-year-old businessman.

Moe was ordered on June 1 to turn over an $11,000 bank account and other business records to court-appointed receiver Barry Davidson, who was named in the summer of 2005 to take over operations of the Airway Heights racing complex.

But instead of complying with the order from Superior Court Judge Robert Austin, Moe filed bankruptcy on Aug. 17 and didn’t turn over any of the records. Moe said in court that he turned over the $11,000 bank account to his bankruptcy attorney.

“You are in contempt of court for doing that,” Austin said sternly from the bench on Wednesday.

“You put your interests over those contained in the court order, and that’s contempt of court,” Austin told Moe.

If Moe doesn’t comply by Dec. 8, the judge said he will start imposing $1,000-a-day fines.

In an unrelated case, Moe is scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court at 10 a.m. today for a pretrial hearing on federal bribery charges.

He is accused of loaning $127,000 to Dale Perry, the former mayor of Airway Heights, who also was indicted in the federal public corruption case.

The ex-mayor is accused of accepting the loan in exchange for casting Airway Heights City Council votes favorable to Moe, including the repeal of an admissions tax that affected Spokane Raceway Park.

At Wednesday’s contempt hearing in Superior Court, the judge ruled that Moe – and not the partnership he used to represent – must pay the court costs and legal bills associated with the hearing. That will include the legal bills for the court receiver and John Giesa, the attorney representing the receiver and the limited partners.

The total hasn’t been calculated but likely will be several thousand dollars. It can be lodged against Moe’s personal assets contained in the bankruptcy court action, the judge said.

“This is caused by you and no one but you,” the judge told Moe.

His previous legal costs, associated with a dozen or more court hearings sprinkled over the past two years, were billed to the partnership.

As he rendered his ruling at the end of a three-hour hearing, the judge repeatedly was interrupted by Moe, who was acting as his own attorney.

Legal bills from his previous attorney, Carl Oreskovich, are included in the unpaid bills contained in the bankruptcy petition that Moe filed on behalf of Spokane Raceway Park.

That bankruptcy filing briefly froze an ongoing Superior Court lawsuit before Austin, which involves 500 limited partners who say they have seen no return on their $2 million in stock purchases that they made in the early 1970s to help Moe build and operate the racing facility.

The partnership is made up of Washington Motorsports, composed of the limited partners and Spokane Raceway Park Inc., which is controlled by Moe.

He took the witness stand, under oath, and offered a rambling explanation laced with hearsay, causing Giesa to finally object.

“Listen to me. Don’t talk,” the judge told Moe after he took his seat.

But Moe persisted with interruptions, asking the judge at one point to explain the difference between original documents and copies.

“Stop arguing with me,” the judge told Moe. “I’m giving you my decision.”

The judge said Moe must turn over $11,000 in a Wells Fargo bank account he secretly set up after the court receiver was appointed to take control of all financial dealings at Spokane Raceway Park.

Moe argued the money was his own, but the judge said he must turn over the money and the accounting records to prove that point with the receiver.

“You were ordered to do that in June,” the judge said. “You still have to do that.”

The judge also said Moe must produce documentation of all Spokane Raceway Park shares he and his family members personally own and any shares they acquired for pennies on the dollar from frustrated investors or their heirs.

Moe said he previously attempted to comply with the court’s order by turning over documents to his attorneys, Oreskovich, Joe Delay and Robert Kovacevich, and the accounting firm of LeMasters and Daniels.

“Go get it from them,” the judge directed Moe. “It’s your information.”

Moe then interrupted again.

“I’m trying to get through this,” the judge said. “You keep interrupting me.”

The judge said Moe must complete a formal sworn declaration detailing any documents or records he cannot retrieve from his attorneys or accountants.

Failure to comply by Dec. 8, Austin said, will result in the $1,000 daily fine, “and that will build real quickly. Do you understand that?”

Moe said he understood and would comply.

The assets of Spokane Raceway Park Inc. currently are controlled by a bankruptcy trustee, John Munding, who was in court and heard Moe say under oath that he continues handling business matters for Spokane Raceway Park.

Asked outside the courtroom if that constitutes bankruptcy fraud, Munding smiled and said: “That will be stopped if it is going on.”