Ex-owner of The Block wants to buy resort
Publisher’s note: Eneliko “Sean” Smith was managing partner of the now defunct Cedar Lodge and The Block hotels in South Lake Tahoe.
By Art Bukowski, Record- Eagle
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — A Las Vegas entrepreneur who plans to buy Leelanau County’s long-shuttered Sugar Loaf Resort faces multiple criminal charges in California, though he contends he’s “not a crook.”
Eneliko “Sean” Smith said he plans to spend about $10 million to buy the resort and open at least a portion of it by July 4. But he faces felony grand theft and embezzlement charges in California’s El Dorado County, and is the subject of numerous derisive Internet postings about past business endeavors.
On Monday, Smith said “everybody makes mistakes,” and said he remains committed to the Sugar Loaf purchase.
It’ amazing how many of these crooks are out there. They plunder one town, take off and start over in another when the authorities finally figure them out. They never quit. Just like a neighbor we had who bought house after house and lost each one to foreclosure after enjoying a couple of years at a time in a different resort community. He came here from Kauai, played bigshot realtor for a couple of years, then scooted off to Keystone, Colorado. These are the people who benefitted and continue to suck from banking crisis.