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Gambler sues Greektown

DETROIT, Michigan -- (PRESS RELEASE) -- A novice gambler accused and acquitted of charges that he cheated on a Greektown Casino game sued the gambling parlor Monday, saying he was targeted by overzealous casino security officials who violated their own policy by having him arrested.

The civil suit, filed in Wayne County Circuit Court, sues the casino on seven counts, including false imprisonment, malicious prosecution, negligence and infliction of emotional distress. The suit is seeking unspecified damages for Ogundu.

David W. Jones of Allen Brothers Law Firm PLLC, filed the complaint against Greektown Casino LLC on behalf of Joseph Ogundu of West Bloomfield.

"The jury took just two hours to decide what Greektown officials should have figured out if they weren't so hell-bent on targeting my client," Jones said, referring to a Wayne County jury's July acquittal of Ogundu. "Instead, they filed frivolous charges that resulted in a loss of this man's livelihood, lifestyle and peace of mind."

The incident occurred on August 5, 2006, after Ogundu -- playing craps for the first time -- mistakenly placed an improper bet. Though Ogundu never repeated the mistake in 45 minutes more of gambling, and the casino's policy says that only a person who repeatedly makes such errors be halted from placing wagers, Ogundu was arrested.

"I never would have believed that I would be put in this type of situation," said Ogundu, a former auto industry executive whose consulting business dropped 60 percent as a result of the charges. "For about six to eight months, I couldn't sleep."

Despite his acquittal, a lifelong ban imposed by the casino on Ogundu remains in place, Jones said. He said the incident is an example of the extraordinary leeway that a casino has in how it treats customers, despite being under state oversight.

-- In May, 2003, Greektown Casino officials banned video poker players who were winning money, even though the Michigan Gaming Control Board said the group did nothing illegal to warrant their removal.

-- In August of 2001, a 74-year-old Troy woman was detained by casino security, questioned, photographed and stripped of her meal card by the Motor City Casino, after she found and kept an unused nickel credit on a vacant slot machine.

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