The Tribune
Playing blackjack nearly round the clock for two days, Adam Resnick was
up $5.1 million and, he says, planned to wire the bulk of his winnings
to Universal Federal Savings Bank.
The bank on Chicago`s Near Southwest Side was the institution that,
prosecutors allege, had illegally bankrolled Resnick`s gaming for
months.
Resnick said he tried to send the money in the midafternoon but was
told it was too late in the day for a wire transfer. The money, the
casino promised, could be sent the next morning.
But by 10 a.m. the next day the money was gone, lost to the Horseshoe Casino in Hammond, according to court records.
The following day, June 27, 2002, Universal Federal Savings Bank, a
fixture in Chicago`s Pilsen neighborhood for nearly 80 years, collapsed
under the weight of a check-kiting scheme that, according to an
indictment and other court documents, involved Resnick and cost the
institution $10.5 million.
"That was the last time I gambled," Resnick said.
That last time he lost an additional $1 million in earlier winnings on
top of the $5.1 million, according to a lawsuit he filed against the
Horseshoe. He sued to preserve videotapes of him gambling, a move
related to the legal problems he faces in the bank`s collapse.
Resnick was charged last month with two counts of aiding and abetting
misapplication of bank funds and one count each of conspiracy to
misapply funds, making false entries in bank records and wire fraud.
Each conspiracy charge carries a maximum five-year sentence and
$250,000 fine, while the other charges could bring 30 years in prison
and a $1 million fine.
With his shaved head, 32-year-old Resnick looks like a smaller version
of action-movie star Vin Diesel. With his engaging personality, he has
made a living putting together mergers and acquisitions for health-care
companies. He also assisted in building and eventually selling American
Lithotripsy Group, a move that earned him millions of dollars in
profit, Resnick said.
Married and with two children, he could be the friendly guy next door.
But as a gambler he led a double life that included bankruptcy in 1997,
liens filed against him by the Internal Revenue Service and being
flagged a credit risk by banks and other institutions.
In an hourlong interview with the Chicago Tribune, Resnick described a
lifelong addiction--betting on golf, dog racing and cards--that ended
at a blackjack table reserved for high-rollers at the Horseshoe Casino.
Blackjack was his favorite form of gambling. He boasts that he could
spend 30-plus-hours straight at blackjack tables, demanding the fastest
dealers so the action never slowed.
"Most professionals know you walk away when you`ve doubled your money," he said. "I never walked away."
When he was up, he would hand dealers tips of $1,000 or more. When he
was down, he would borrow money, often paying 50 percent or more in
interest.
"You know you`re never going to win more than you lose; it`s about the
action," Resnick said. "The impetus wasn`t greed or money. The impetus
was for self-destruction, an escape from reality.
"And, third, it`s the rush."
Feeding that rush brought credit problems. His history of bounced
checks was so notorious that banks wouldn`t allow him to open a
checking account, Resnick said.
In 1999, Citibank sued him for passing a bad check to a casino and
recovered $147,738. In 2000, the Empress Casino, which was later sold
to the Horseshoe, sued him for a bad check and collected $35,025.
Yet with the help of a banking insider, federal prosecutors allege,
Resnick tapped into a check-kiting scheme at Universal to fuel his
gambling for seven months.
And like Resnick, Universal went bust. Today, its former office is a
branch of Chicago Community Bank. Such failures are rare--only 11 went
under the year Universal collapsed.
Brother, sister charged
In January, prosecutors charged three people in connection with
Universal`s failure. In addition to Resnick, charges were brought
against Antonette "Toni" Navarro, the bank`s chief operating officer,
and her brother, Terrence "Terry" Navarro, an accountant. They are the
children of the bank`s president, Maureen Navarro, who was not charged.
Toni Navarro is charged with two counts of misapplying bank funds and
one count each of conspiracy, bank fraud and making false entries in
bank records. Terry Navarro, an acquaintance of Resnick, was charged
with a single count of making false entries in bank records.
According to court documents, Resnick wrote bad checks on Terry
Navarro`s business account, which Antonette Navarro allowed to clear.
Resnick, who couldn`t get an account of his own, said Terry Navarro
offered to allow Resnick to write checks on the account.
Terry Navarro`s attorney did not return calls requesting comment.
"Toni Navarro had no idea that Mr. Resnick had a gambling problem, much
less a serious one," said her attorney, Terry Campbell. "Quite the
contrary, Mr. Resnick convincingly represented himself to her and
others as a successful and competent businessman, with a stable family
life, doing legitimate work. He is very persuasive."
The bad checks first were written in December 2001, according to court
documents. That month, Resnick was allowed to take the unusual step of
making deposits at American National Bank & Trust for credit to
Terrence Navarro`s business account at Universal.
After several months of high activity in the account, Universal`s board
chairman, Robert McKinlay, noted the high level of activity in the
Navarro business account. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. was asked
to investigate on June 25. Universal was closed two days later.
Under the advice of his attorney, Joshua Buchman, Resnick refused to
discuss the allegations against him, except to maintain that the wire
transfer that he said he tried to make on June 25 was intended for
Universal.
Resnick emphasized he is not preaching about the evils of betting. He
doesn`t want to shut down the lottery, office pools and casinos. But,
he said, it is a part of his recovery that he tell people what gambling
has cost him.
He has lost money, friends and pieces of his life he will never recover, he said.
"When my son was born, I couldn`t focus on the blessing of my child
being born because I knew there was a bookie walking around the
hospital looking for me because I owed him money," Resnick said. "That
may have not been my worst day in terms of money, but that`s as bad as
it gets."
Resnick said he has cooperated with federal investigators since
Universal`s failure. His focus is on family and rebuilding his life, he
said.
"My mind-set now is that I`m trying to build a business for the
future," Resnick said, "not trying to get money to pay a bookie."
Entered rehab
He says he can talk about his gambling after rehabilitation at the
Harbour Center in Baltimore, which he entered less than two weeks after
the bank`s failure. He spent six weeks there and has since followed up
with therapy sessions done regularly via telephone, he said.
With treatment, Resnick said, he has come to realize how much gambling has been a part of his life.
One of his earliest memories is as a 7-year-old competing against
another boy to see who could grab the most leaves falling from a tree.
When Resnick looked up, his hands were full of leaves, and he was the
only one still standing at the corner. He hadn`t heard the driver and
other children yelling for him to get on the bus.
"It was self-destructive then, just as it was until the last day I gambled," said Resnick.
In the decades that followed, he lost millions of dollars gambling,
often moving residences to avoid bookies trying to collect money he
owed.
Valerie Lorenz, Harbour Center`s executive director, said gambling
addicts are "typically above average in intelligence, they`re highly
motivated to succeed, they`re very good with numbers, their memories
are incredible."
"But intelligence is not judgment or ability to reason," Lorenz said.
"We`ve had judges, lawyers who are compulsive gamblers who end up in
treatment. They know the law, but they still do it anyway."
Resnick missed his wife`s college graduation in Madison, Wis., because
he was an hour`s drive away at an Indian casino. "I had been there all
night, and I couldn`t leave," he said.
Now, he won`t gamble at all.
"I choose not to even enter an NCAA pool," Resnick said. "Do I think it
would ruin my life? No. Do I think it could snowball into something
else? Yes. Yes, it could."
