Las Vegas- [Las Vegas Review Journal]- Ever since a local masseuse began a public campaign against him, Nico Santucci, a wealthy Las Vegas entrepreneur, has tried to clear the air.
In 2005, Kiki Lin, also known as Chin Hsuan Lin Razo, filed a lawsuit against Santucci to obtain $120,000 she said he owed her.
She published multiple advertisements in local media, including the Review-Journal, and handed out fliers that painted Santucci as a gigolo who preyed on women for money.
She claimed they were romantically involved and that she lent Santucci money to open C2K nightclub at The Venetian.
She told the Review-Journal two years ago that she caught Santucci cheating on her and demanded the money be repaid.
The lawsuit was dismissed in July 2006.
But Santucci said the presence of the story on the Internet has made it difficult for him to move on.
“I’m an honest guy from Chicago, and I like really conservative girls, and conservative girls don’t like that story,” Santucci told the Review-Journal last week.
The high-rolling owner of several hot spot Las Vegas nightclubs and restaurants said he never borrowed any money from Lin.
“If I showed you my bank statement, you’d understand I do not need to borrow any money,” Santucci said.
He said the court ordered Lin to also take down a Web site she had that slandered him, but he said he wonders if people, his neighbors in particular, believed her account.
“I have a penthouse at the Regency Tower. She sent a letter to everyone at the Regency Tower that I’m basically the antichrist,” Santucci said.
He also said they were never sexually involved, and he never asked her to marry him.
“I felt she was a really good friend,” he said.
In depositions, Lin acknowledged she was arrested and pleaded guilty twice for “sex crimes” at two Strip hotels and that sometimes she would give “happy endings” using her hands at her massage establishments.
Santucci said that he used her services to secure women for high-profile and discreet clients of his. But he said she became obsessed with him and decided to retaliate publicly.
“We took a deposition, and she saw the error of her ways,” said Harold Gewerter, Santucci’s attorney.
Her massage business was unlicensed, he said.
“She got nothing,” Gewerter said.