Ex-spokesman sues company behind futuristic Las Vegas mini-city

The former spokesman for a futuristic proposed development on Las Vegas Boulevard South is suing the company and the woman who leads it.

Tom Letizia, a longtime communications consultant in Southern Nevada, claims Bleutech Park Properties and its CEO, Janet Garcia-Legrand, have refused to pay him.

“It’s very sad that I had to go down this road because I felt like this project was a special project and I had high hopes of it becoming a reality,” Letizia said.

He said the company breached its contract with him and that he had no other recourse but to go through the courts.

“It’s unfortunate,” he said. “I wish them the very best moving forward.”

Plan debuted over summer

Bleutech Park Las Vegas debuted over the summer with a flashy rendering and a buzzword-heavy news release. The project, billed as a “digital infrastructure city,” promises technology such as augmented reality and self-healing concrete structures — with an announced price tag of $7.5 billion, dwarfing the costs of Southern Nevada’s largest projects.

Letizia defended the project from scrutiny after it was reported that Garcia-Legrand was behind it. She has been criminally accused of trying to defraud a South Florida city. A hearing for her is scheduled for March.

Letizia said he resigned in November after not being paid since August. He filed his lawsuit in Clark County District Court.

According to the lawsuit, Letizia signed a one-year contract with the company that was due to expire in April 2020. The company promised to pay Letizia a $20,000 retainer and a monthly rate of $20,000, according to court records.

Letizia submitted a notice to terminate the contract in November, according to the lawsuit. On Dec. 2, he delivered an invoice for $54,000, the lawsuit said. That amount accounts for payments he should have received in September, October and part of November, he said.

“Garcia interfered with (Bleutech Park Properties’) ability to comply with the terms of the contract. Garcia also caused (Bleutech Park Properties) to violate the terms of the contract,” the lawsuit reads.

Unaware of claims

Garcia-Legrand, who is named in the lawsuit as Janet Garcia, said Friday that she was not aware of the claims against her.

“This is the first I’m learning from it,” she told the Review-Journal. “It’s a contract dispute, and it has nothing to with me personally or Tom Letizia personally.”

She said she would not elaborate on her understanding of the dispute because she is not the attorney handling it.

Garcia-Legrand did say Letizia was paid for the services he provided.

She said Bleutech Park terminated the contract with Letizia because it was interested in the services of a nationwide public relations firm. Letizia said that is not true.

Bleutech Park’s scheduled December date for groundbreaking came and went without any dirt being moved, but Garcia-Legrand said she is shooting for groundbreaking in the first quarter of 2020.

The company secured a deal for more than $300 million worth of land near Las Vegas Boulevard South and Cactus Avenue, but Bleutech Park has not yet closed on the sale. The sale has a Jan. 15 deadline.

Contact Blake Apgar at bapgar@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5298. Follow @blakeapgar on Twitter.