Federal agents raided on Friday the Concord, Calif. headquarters of the Seeno family development empire, which has ties to the Peppermill Resort Spa Casino in Reno and Peppermill properties in West Wendover.About 30 agents from the FBI, Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. Secret Service participated in the raid of the 70-year-old home-building dynasty. Federal agents hauled out stacks of documents from two office buildings, although no arrests were made, according to a report in the Contra Costa Times.The federal investigation into the Seeno empire has nothing to do with the Peppermill properties, Peppermill Marketing Director Bill Hughes said."We have no statement concerning the pending review of the documents they found other than to say that they did not involve the Peppermill in any way," Hughes said.
"The Seeno family members are investors in the Peppermill, which is managed on a day-to-day basis by its principal owner. Bill Paganetti," Hughes said. "He is the president and chief operating officer."Friday's raid will open an investigation by Nevada gambling authorities, said Renee Shaffer, deputy chief of enforcement for the Gambling Control Board.
"Per statue and regulations, the board would always be concerned about any gaming licensee that had any areas of concern," Shaffer said. "So of course we would (investigate). That is an absolute within our jurisdiction."In 2004, Nevada state gambling regulators levied a $775,000 fine against Albert D. Seeno Jr. over a complaint involving his association with outlaw bikers and convicted felons.
Seeno's son, Albert D. Seeno III, also was fined $25,000 for associating with outlaw bikers and felons.Seeno Jr. was licensed through a trust for 15.4 percent in Peppermill Casinos Inc., owner of the Rainbow Club and Casino in Henderson, the Peppermill in Reno, Western Village in Sparks and two casinos in West Wendover when he was fined in 2004."The Seenos have an interest here in Reno and throughout Nevada," Hughes said. "They also have interests in California and those are separate from their interests in the Peppermill."
The 2004 Nevada complaint stemmed from the Seenos' association with Victor Bustos, who worked at Seeno Jr.'s construction firm. Bustos pleaded guilty in a drug-related case in 2001 and received a one-year suspended sentence.The complaint also said Seeno Jr. associated with Arthur Carasis, a member of the Hell's Angels motorcycle gang. Carasis had been convicted of the false use of a contractor's license and distributing methamphetamine.