Bankruptcy Papers Show Elys Owe $303,533 : Creditors: The Ventura Community College District trustee lists more than $50,000 in gambling debts. He says the amounts were purposely inflated.

Bankruptcy papers filed in federal court in Los Angeles reveal that James T. (Tom) and Ingrid Ely owe creditors $303,533, including more than $50,000 in gambling debts to nine Nevada casinos.

The bankruptcy petition is the first glimpse at the magnitude of the Elys’ debts since the financial troubles of the Ventura Community College District trustee became public in March.

The documents show that Tom Ely amassed more than twice the amount of casino debts that he claimed last spring after The Times reported his total gambling debts in Nevada were in excess of $40,000.

Although he has maintained for the last six months that his gambling debts were “less than $20,000,” the bankruptcy papers say Tom Ely incurred $50,516 in gambling debts at casinos in Las Vegas and Laughlin, Nev., in June and July of 1989. They also say the Elys owe more than $41,000 in credit card debts.

In addition to those debts, the bankruptcy papers show that the Elys have two mortgages on their Simi Valley house and liens against the house totaling $191,750.

The Elys are scheduled to be arraigned this morning in Ventura County Superior Court on conspiracy and embezzlement charges for allegedly taking more than $15,000 in district funds by padding their expense accounts with exaggerated claims for food, lodging and travel.

The Elys filed the bankruptcy papers on Sept. 28. On Tuesday they asked the court to appoint public defenders to represent them because they no longer can afford their private attorneys.

Commenting on the wide gap between the bankruptcy filing and his earlier estimates of his gambling debts, Tom Ely said Wednesday that he listed inflated amounts for the gambling debts on instructions from his attorney.

Tom Ely said he is confident that his creditors will correct any inaccurate figures in court and said his attorney told him, “It’s better to list (the figures) a little high than a little low.”

All but one of Tom Ely’s casino debts--ranging from $2,000 at Bally’s Casino to $10,000 at Aladdin Hotel & Casino--are listed as loans.

The debt at the Golden Nugget is listed in the Elys’ bankruptcy papers as a lawsuit for $9,000, although the actual lawsuit demanded repayment of only $8,000.

But Tom Ely said in a telephone interview Wednesday that all those figures are incorrect, including the ones listed on the bankruptcy papers.

“You want to optimize the ones you list,” he said.

After listing the admittedly inflated figures, Tom and Ingrid Ely both signed a document certifying that the figures are true “under penalty of perjury.”

Their bankruptcy attorney, Salvatore A. Sciortini of the Van Nuys office of Slate and Leoni, a prominent Los Angeles bankruptcy law firm, did not return two calls from The Times on Wednesday.

Tom Ely said he took the casino debt figures listed in the bankruptcy papers from various newspaper accounts of his gambling debts.

The list of creditors includes a $3,000 loan from the Edgewater Casino in Laughlin, Nev., despite reports by Las Vegas police that Tom Ely had already paid that debt.

Tom Ely said Wednesday that he did pay his Edgewater Casino debt. But, he added, “the claim was still there. The allegation had been made. We wanted to make sure anything that was even involved in a potential error is listed and cleared. If there was a mistake, we want to make sure it’s a mistake and it’s listed in somebody’s place of business and it’s clarified by this action.”

Tom Ely declined additional comment on his 1989 gambling debts or how he incurred them.

The bankruptcy papers claim that the Elys owe more than $41,000 in credit card charges including a $19,570 debt to Simi Valley Bank, which has sued them in Ventura County Municipal Court.

Assets listed by the Elys include $150 cash on hand and $15 in a Great Western Bank account, household goods worth $2,000, Ingrid Ely’s jewelry worth $300 and a 1989 Cadillac Brougham worth $16,800.

The papers list a lien held against the car by James M. Farley, who represents Tom Ely in his embezzlement case. The amount of the debt claimed is listed as $10,000, but Farley said the lien is for only $4,000.

The total net worth of the Elys’ property is listed as $234,090 and their debts as $303,533.

Asked about a listed $2,844 debt owed to the Engineers Federal Credit Union in Los Angeles, Tom Ely declined to discuss his bankruptcy papers further. “I really hesitate to go into the specifics of anything,” he said. “I will just say that it’s a debt that’s owed.”