Problems besetting one of San Francisco's largest apartment building owners appear to be hitting home more directly.
According to the Clark County, Nev., district attorney's office, there is a warrant out for Walter Lembi, managing director of the financially troubled Lembi Group, for allegedly passing $298,500 worth of bad checks earlier this year at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas.
According to a document from the Clark County district attorney's office, dated July 1, the check fraud division is seeking restitution in the amount of $328,450 (including fees). The document lists Lembi's recorded home address in Burlingame.
Bernie Zadrowski, head of the check fraud division, said Wednesday that his office had been in touch with an attorney said to be representing Lembi and that Lembi has until Sunday to comply. "We pitched an offer" of settlement, Zadrowski said, although he would not specify the basis of the offer.
Failure to meet the deadline in similar cases usually results in a broader, nationwide arrest warrant being issued, Zadrowski said.
A woman who answered Lembi's listed home phone on Wednesday evening said Lembi "doesn't live here anymore," but gave no more details, except to confirm that the name on the document, Walter Richard Lembi, is Lembi's full name.
The attorney, listed as Robert Ryan of San Diego, according to Zadrowski, did not return calls. A call to the Lembi Group's attorney was not returned.
According to Zadrowski, Lembi wrote two checks to Caesar's Palace for chips he was playing with at the casino, which usually waits 60 days before cashing such checks. Judging by the July 1 date on the notice issued by his office, Zadrowski believes the checks were written around the beginning of May.
And if the accused doesn't make good in the specified time? "If he gets picked up, we'll prosecute him," said Zadrowski.
Still sinking: Business-wise, things seem not to have gotten any better since we wrote in September that the Lembi Group was "disappearing beneath waves of debt."
Once the owner of about 300 apartment buildings in San Francisco and on the Peninsula, its empire - founded by Walter Lembi's father, Frank Lembi - has been humbled by dozens of receiverships and foreclosures. Not to mention waves of lawsuits filed by former tenants suing for nonpayment of security deposits, and a long-standing city suit alleging unfair business practices and tenant harassment.
In interviews, Walter Lembi has blamed the credit crunch for his company's woes. "The worst financial market I've seen in the history of my career in real estate," he told San Francisco Apartment Magazine. "But our bankers are working very well with us. They would like to see some kind of pay down."
A number of bankers, as we know, didn't get what they wanted, and took steps accordingly. We'll see what happens to Walter Lembi if Caesar's Palace and the Clark County authorities don't get what they say they want.
Replacement span: This could come in handy for folks on Treasure Island cut off by the Bay Bridge mess: free Wi-Fi.
The former Navy base went completely wireless on Monday, courtesy of the San Francisco Department of Technology and the Treasure Island Development Authority. More than 400 units of low-income and subsidized housing get the service for free, as part San Francisco's Network of Community Networks, funded in part by Cisco Systems.
"This new network will give residents the tools to participate in the new economy that will power America's recovery," said Mayor Gavin Newsom. Or, at least to stay in touch with doings across the water while the Bay Bridge recovers.
Blogging at sfgate.com/columns/bottomline. Tweeting at @andrewsross. E-mail bottomline@sfchronicle.com.
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