Fabrizio Boccardi

Fabrizio Boccardi is an Italian American entrepreneur, investor, and producer. Boccardi is the owner and creator of the multimedia brand the Tyrant. In addition, he controls several investments,including Media, technology, and Gaming in the United States and abroad. Boccardi has attempted to buy control of a Las Vegas casino, most notably Riviera Holdings, former owner of the Riviera Hotel & Casino on the strip of Las Vegas, and Riviera Casino in Black Hawk Colorado.

Boccardi was born in Milan, Italy in 1967. His father was the founder of the Istituto Finanziario Ambrosiano, a financial institution with interests in construction, real estate, and insurance. Boccardi attended the Leone XIII school in Milan, and then the Ophenaimer. He continued his studies in the United States, attending Villanova Preparatory School, in Ojai, California, but was unable to finish his junior year when his family’s holding company's collapsed.

At age 19 Boccardi established himself as a commodities trader in Monte Carlo. In his early twenties he began to invest in condominium development in Italy and in the South of France.

Boccardi has attempted to buy a Las Vegas casino, since 1999.At that time, he signed an agreement to buy the New Frontier Hotel & Casino on the Las Vegas Strip, for $270 million owned at the time by Phil Ruffin. The price Boccardi was willing to pay in 1999 for the aged New Frontier Hotel & Casino, was considered too high by the lenders and gaming analysts as a result Boccardi was forced to pull out during due diligence and terminate the agreement with Ruffin. Phil Ruffin sold the New Frontier to El Ad Properties in 2007 at more than $1.2 billion, the 36 Frontier acres sold for more than $33 million an acre.

In 2000, Boccardi offered $200 million for the Desert Inn Hotel & Casino, but his offer was considered too low by owners Starwood Hotel & Resorts and was then sold to Las Vegas casino owner Steve Wynn for $275 million. To publicize his bid for the Desert Inn, Boccardi invited Prince Albert of Monaco to Las Vegas. Wynn Resorts subsequently used the Desert Inn site to develop Wynn Las Vegas that opened in 2005 on the Las Vegas’ Strip.

In 2003, Boccardi bid $8.50 per share for control of Riviera Holdings, owners of the Riviera Hotel & Casino on the Las Vegas Strip and a casino in Black Hawk, Colorado. The Boccardi's offer caused the stock of the company to increase substantially The offer was subject to a change of ‘control put’ and bondholders’ approval of the debt holders of the public company trading on the American Stock Exchange. Management rejected the offer, causing some shareholders to file suit against Riviera’s management for not considering the offer.

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