Writing Shotgun

AUDIT REPORTS THAT PREVRATIL’S A PILLAGER! UHH, THAT’S NEWS?

Dave WielengaWed. June 11
 

A just-released financial audit revealing how Queen Mary operator Joe Prevratil used a shell game-style financial structure to enrich himself by nearly $8 million while driving Long Beach’s city icon into bankruptcy basically backs up and amplifies a story reported by The District Weekly last July.

Howard M. Ehrenberg, the court-appointed trustee for the Queen Mary during bankruptcy—who is currently opposing the City of Long Beach’s actions to pursue those millions—got irritated when The District Weekly asked about Prevratil’s possible financial irregularities last summer.

“Rather than throwing mud,” Ehrenberg scolded last July, “why don’t you focus on the fact that we are less than one month away from an auction for [the Queen Mary] lease? That’s good news.”

But disturbing evidence presented by former Community Development Advisory commissioner Juan Pardell—an appointee of ex-Mayor Beverly O’Neill—suggested that Prevratil had improperly diverted approximately $2.3 million from the not-for-profit RMS Foundation that ran the ship to a private corporation called Leisure Horizons … which Prevratil owns, operates and is the sole employee.

Pardell referred to a court filing that indicates Prevratil transferred the money between late 2003 and mid 2005 in 37 payments ranging from $25,850 to $135,000. Other documents show that neither Prevratil nor his partner, Howard Bell, requested permission from the California Attorney General to engage in these self-dealing transactions, nor declared them afterward—both of which are required by law.

Pardell also referred, rather sadly, to the then-approaching Aug. 14 bankruptcy court auction of the lease to operate the Queen Mary, which Prevratil had been running for nearly 20 years—virtually without oversight and always while claiming poverty.

“This shows that there were resources to pay off debts,” Pardell said. “The Queen Mary does make money; there was just too much going into entities owned by Joe Prevratil.”

 Today’s story in the Press-Telegram is available by [clicking here]

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  • Sam Lowry
    “Rather than throwing mud, why don’t you focus on the ... good news.”

    That's part of the problem here in Chinatown, Mr. Trustee. Folks here are too easily distracted with the smoke the hucksters blow (Joe Prevratil, Chris Pook, Tony Batts) and not the fires they start (Queen Mary bankruptcy, $37K Sea Festival debt, and the $4.1 million Lobstergate civil judgment, respectively). What does it say about Long Beach that only one of these three no longer receives compensation from the city?
  • Ship Buff
    Eight million is potentially just the tip of the iceberg. Joe had some of his kids on the payroll. Can't count the number of times parking fees were collected as you went in the gate with no ticket issued. Wonder if that was all accounted for. Wonder if all of the costs of Shipwreck weren't reimbursed.
  • John
    Good ol' joe, the pride of both the I,PT and randy "self-proclaimed mayor" gordon's union. Says alot about their credibility doesn't it?
  • Ship Buff
    Thing is, ol' Joe's still seems to have a hand in running the ship. And I hear some of his cronies are trying to make a comeback on board. Might be a lead in there somewhere for an inquiring journalist, I'd say.
  • Dave Wielenga
    Hi, Ship Buff...
    If you've got a good trail for me to follow, you can phone at 562-366-1596 or e-mail me at dave@thedistrictweekly.com. Thanks!
  • Grant
    The LB Press Telegram has an editorial today re the audit of JFP.

    See: http://www.presstelegram.com/opinions/ci_9555855

    They see the QM as an icon of low culture in Long Beach. And LB's tacky little art museum on Ocean Blvd. is their icon of high culture. It is amazing to me how we can screw things up and then blame the victim -- in this case the ship itself. The low is the level of cultural sophistication in this city is also amazing. No wonder Joe Prevratil found a home here amongst the "elite".
  • Dave Wielenga
    More amazing is the complete lack of news sense or even basic curiosity: How did the Queen Mary situation get this way? How does Joe Prevratil become a millionaire by running a third-rate tourist attraction? The P-T displays no sense of obligation to find out, no outrage, no interest. It chooses to weigh the money the city might get from pursuing Prevatril vs. the cost ... never mind that the city has thrown away 100s of millions over the years. Discovering who was at fault, what kind of insider culture was at work, could be the most important element in changing the course of the city's future.
  • Laurence B. Goodhue
    My sense is that we should follow the lead of the Trustee;learn from the mistakes
    of the past and move forward remembering,sans Joe Prevatil and the Queen Mary
    Long Beach would be known but for being- Gang Bangerville by the Sea.

    The most important thing we should do now is to replace the corrupt City Manager.
    Far far worse than what may be found to be true-at the end of the day with the
    Queen Mary Saga and that of the Art Museum-is the manifest corruption displayed by Peter Principled City Manger who has embraced ,without any
    apparent hesitation, the deceitful,dishonest,disingenuous oral and written
    statements of his Marine Bureau Manager made to the California Coastal
    Commission;Mayor and City Council;Zoning Officer-from December 2007
    through May 2008 on a matter of seminal import to the City on several levels
    including public safety.

    Congenital or polished liars have no place in any government-nor is there
    room for those that embrace such as has the current City Manager of Long
    Beach.Clearly he must be fired.
  • Grant
    Perhaps the lack of curiousity is because the establishment in this town isn't interested in exposing the rot they know they are part of. So instead they act like Pollyannas and just think positive thoughts. Sadly, many problems could have been avoided with some early on blunt questioning. The PT and the Grunion are the worst.
  • Mary
    Who were the insiders? JP was really cozy with the Mayor and nobody wanted to touch that. Nobody had the guts to stand up to him, and those that did, like Finance Director Robert Torrez, got slapped or run off. JP also had his master book-cooker, Bell, creating such such a mess of the books that no one could figure out where all the money was going. That's why its taken several years and hundreds of thousands of dollars to unwind.
  • Grant
    The mayor was just a creation of Joe. Jim Hankla was his real patron -- and he probably still is.
  • Dave Wielenga
    Mr. Goodhue, the hundreds of millions blown on the Queen Mary seem like a high price to pay for a reputation.Some of that money might have been able to solve some of the city's problems--including the forces that create the environment for youth violence.
  • John
    No matter how much our local "newspaper" pimps for them, (like spraying lysol on a pile of dogshit), the actions and results of our hucksters (great description) like randy whordon, joe prevratil, hankla and the rest of the elite who infest our city stench right through the smokescreen. Mayberry RFD.
  • Laurence Goodhue
    Dave:Even if the City took 100% of the money expended on the Queen Mary and
    re-directed it toward the forces that create the environment-for youth violence-we
    would still have the same level of youth violence that exists today.

    No amount of money is going to stop that problem.The birth rate is to high.It is
    like trying to sweep back the sea with a broom.Stand outside of Wal-Mart in the
    ghetto.Listen and watch as the gang bangers of 2022 are being pushed around in strollers.Listen and watch to what is pushing them.Their future is ordained.
  • JuanPardell
    Ship Buff - I'm doubting whether the Prevratils have been formally dismissed from the QM's operations. In fact, according to the CA. Sec. of State's website, the RMS Foundation, which was the non-profit that operated the ship, is still active and has yet to be dissolved. Certainly, if there was a complete separation between the new and former operators, a dissoluton would have already been filed with the Sec. of State & the Dept. of Corporations.
  • Grant
    If you read the Gazette interview with Jay Primavera's, the Hostmark executive who runs the ship for Jeff Klein, it appears to have been scripted by Joe Prevratil. Primavera is enhancing "Ghosts and Legends", still runs the corny burlesque show, "Vamp the Lounge", ran a trashy tattoo and motocycle meet last weekend and is planning on running Eric Prevratil's Halloween "Shipwreck" this October. All these tired old acorns are all Joe Prevratil's ideas. Apparently Jay Primavera can't think outside the box that Joe built.
  • cosmo
    Why do I smell a "rat" in Prev"rat"il? He was slick, that's my opinion.
  • Harlow
    Ahhh, the good old days! I worked for the QM for a number of years. I was so naiive then, truly believing the company line, when our paychecks and vendor checks bounced, our 401K wasn't matched as promised and health insurance was cancelled, that it was just an expensive ship to run! The food and beverage dep't. was pilfering from the ship itself and it was the employees who had to suffer. Robert Prevratil was an overpaid buffoon who retired in his 30s, Eric Prevratil, while talented, was a horrible manager and terribly paranoid and then there was daughter rene who didnt draw the big bucks but was there thru nepotism nonetheless. And then there was howard bell, puppeteer from hell who had an orgasm everytime he got to bounce a check. There were many financial games played internally. It is a shame as the ship really has potential.
  • Beachcombover
    Hooterville's very own "Mr. Haney," has, over the years, been entrusted with running the port, expanding the convention center and skippering the QM right into a sea of red ink. All the while, he has been an arrogant sort, alternately feared and adored by the PT and various denizens of City Hall. Such obvious talent should not go to waste. Joe deserves another shot at running LB into the ground. How about executive director of the LB Museum of Art?
  • John
    And if joe isn't interested how about another "Mr. Haney"-randy "the hypocrite unofficial mayor" whoredon? Not only running it but also with his snake oil exhibitions.
  • Dave Wielenga
    God, I loved "Green Acres." A truly underrated show.
  • Chris Ziegler
    are people talkin about green acres in here?
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