Mohegan Sun Suing Ex-Universal Studios Exec for $2.8 Million of Unpaid Debt

Mohegan Sun, a popular casino in Connecticut, is suing a former Hollywood bigwig for failing to pay his gambling debts.

Ronald Meyer, 80, the former President and COO of Universal Studios, co-founder of the Creative Artists Agency and vice chairman of NBCUniversal, has an alleged $2.8 million in outstanding debt to the casino.

A judge must decide if Meyer is entitled to a jury trial before the case can proceed.

Recovering lost debt

Meyer resigned from his position and $25 million annual salary at Universal in 2020 after he was supposedly blackmailed over an affair he had with then-20-year-old actress Charlotte Kirk, now 33.

Meyer lost $5 million while gambling at Mohegan Sun on Oct. 13, 2017. Court documents state that he covered the losses with casino markers, the majority of which could not be cashed.

He began a repayment plan in April 2018, agreeing to pay $60,000 monthly to the casino. He paid back $2.2 million but stopped the plan in Sept. 2023, $2.8 million short of his total losses.

One of the key questions that must be answered is if Meyer waived his right to a jury trial by agreeing to and participating in the repayment plan for five years. Under Mohegan Tribal law, disputes are settled by judges and judicial officers instead of juries composed of community members. 

“[Meyer] had a choice not to apply for credit at Mohegan Sun; he was not forced to come to Mohegan and gamble; and he was represented by very prominent Las Vegas, Nevada legal counsel in the negotiation of the Installment Payment Agreement that he signed, and which provides for the application of Mohegan law,” the lawsuit read.

Illegitimate lines of credit?

Despite the opinion of the Mohegan, Meyer’s attorneys argued that Connecticut law grants their client the right to a jury trial.

The Hollywood mogul’s legal team also questioned the legitimacy of casinos extending lines of credit in Connecticut. They said that the Mohegan Tribe’s agreement with the state does not include the allowance of providing lines of credit to its customers, unlike other Connecticut tribes.

The judge in the case is only required to make a determination about Meyer’s right to a jury trial. If they side with the Mohegan Sun, the case will continue as a bench trial, in which the judge makes a determination of any wrongdoing.

The case is expected to reach a verdict before April 2026.

A 2020 article from the Daily Mail claimed that sources close to Meyer called him the “biggest craps player ever,” stating he had lost more than $100 million at casinos.

“He would blow between $5 million and $7 million at Caesars,” the source said. “Once he exhausted his credit line there, the VP would take him to Foxwoods and the Mohegan Sun in Connecticut where he would blow $3 million to $5 million as well at each place.”

Investigative journalist James Andrew Miller also said in the 2016 book Powerhouse: The Inside Story of CAA that Meyer in the 1980s or 1990s owed millions of dollars to the mob due to gambling.