Developer Robert Ferrante, "whose deals in the 1980's
sent a South Bay councilman to prison and plunged an Orange
County thrift into insolvency, has emerged as a catalyst for
a billion-dollar proposal to lure an NFL team" to a Carson,
CA, stadium and mall complex, according to Alan Abrahamson
of the L.A. TIMES. The project "is the economic engine
driving" Michael Ovitz's "flashy" bid for an NFL team. If
Ovitz's bid is successful, Ferrante would become a limited
partner in the mall development, "a potentially lucrative
prospect he now dreams of." Ferrante, who filed for
bankruptcy in '93 with debts listed at $24.2M after amassing
a "personal fortune" in real estate, has a "tangled history"
in business dealings. But despite his past business
dealings and legal trouble, Ovitz aides and attorneys "see
Ferrante's role in the mall deal as having little relevance,
if any, to the overall project." They say Ovitz and his
partners "have no direct legal or financial ties to
Ferrante." Ovitz representatives "stress" that Ferrante's
involvement with the Carson proposal is, according to one
lawyer, "just on the mall side" (L.A. TIMES, 11/11).
