Nathan Fenno
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nathanfenno.bsky.social
Nathan Fenno
@nathanfenno.bsky.social
Senior investigative writer at The Athletic | Tips welcome: nfenno@theathletic.com or Signal at nathanfenno.52 | Romans 5:8
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October 17, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Breakfast at Bacon and Butter is terrific.
The California Railroad Museum is a fun stop, as well.
May 17, 2025 at 7:53 PM
This is the way.
February 13, 2025 at 7:23 PM
Proud to have worked on this video and the associated story with several talented @latimes.com journalists, including @paigestjohn.bsky.social, @melodygutierrez.bsky.social and @mrmarkpotts.com.
February 4, 2025 at 10:36 PM
The All Net Resort and Arena saga — with Jackie Lee Robinson playing the central role — unfolded over more than a decade and spanned the globe, reaching Malaysia and Mexico, Switzerland and Qatar.

#longreads

www.latimes.com/world-nation...
An ex-NBA player's plan for a $5-billion Las Vegas arena is an empty pit. What went wrong?
A former NBA player repeatedly promised to build a resort-arena on the Las Vegas Strip. Investors and Nevada officials believed him. Then it all fell apart.
www.latimes.com
January 31, 2025 at 6:56 PM
Days after telling investors in a letter that the project had run out of money, Robinson received a $50,000 check from his company developing it. The memo line read, “MERRY CHRISTMAS.” In a deposition, Robinson said the company he formed paid himself and others for work done.
January 31, 2025 at 6:56 PM
Partial bank records for Robinson’s company developing the arena-resort show monthly payments for his home mortgage in a Las Vegas country club, five- and six-figure wire transfers to his wife and payments to Gucci and Louis Vuitton in Beverly Hills.
January 31, 2025 at 6:56 PM
Small-time investors bought into Robinson’s plan. Internal project records list dozens from Southern California, Nevada and beyond. A project attorney said in 2023 that more than $65 million had been raised from “people who believe in this development.”
January 31, 2025 at 6:55 PM
In 2022, Robinson told a news conference they had the assets to pay for the multi-billion-dollar arena-resort and bid for an NBA franchise thanks to a former Navy SEAL and California Highway Patrol officer.
January 31, 2025 at 6:55 PM
Robinson repeatedly said the project had secured funding.

2013: “We have proper financing in place.”
2017: “We have 100% of the money.”
2019: “We have 100% …”
2023: “We have 100% of the cash …”

None of it materialized.

(He didn’t respond to requests for comment.)
January 31, 2025 at 6:55 PM