The casino bigwig who was accused of sexually assaulting his sister stepped down yesterday as the face and CEO of the Nevele casino project.
Michael Treanor quit Thursday after Ulster County Executive Michael Hein and other local pols had demanded that Treanor, 48, resign from the $420 million project to renovate the old Borscht Belt Nevele resort into a gambling mecca.
Hein described this week’s Post story that outed Treanor as “both shocking and appalling to our community.’’
Treanor was allowed to plea-bargain to a third-degree assault charge in 2007, after his sister, who is now 41, accused him of following her to her apartment and forcing his way into her bed after the two spent a boozy night partying in the city.
“I remember suddenly being shoved across my bed and into the wall on the other side of the bed,’’ the sister said in an affidavit filed at the time.
“The knuckles on my right hand smashed into the wall. Michael pulled off my pajama bottoms.’’
The married father of three daughters, ages 10, 15 and 17, who lives in Bernardsville, NJ, admitted to “having made intentional contact with the victim in this case recklessly causing injury to her genitals.”
But he shockingly claimed that it was consensual, according to court papers.
His sister told The Post, “I stand behind everything’’ she said in her affidavit. “I have nothing to hide.’’
Treanor was sentenced to three years’ probation and a year of psychological testing.
In his resignation statement, Treanor insisted, “The matter and my character were completely vetted years ago by the New York State Grievance Committee and was brought to the attention of Nevada regulators with no resulting limitation on my ability to practice law or operate casinos.
“However, I choose not to allow this issue to be a distraction to the Nevele project and therefore have resigned as CEO of Nevele Investors.”
Each of the applicants for the four casino licenses that will be issued to upstate communities will undergo a background check by the New York State Gaming Commission, which charges a $1 million application fee.
Meanwhile, Michael Barasch, who represents Treanor’s sister, blasted the casino bigwig’s lawyer, Joe Tacopina, for describing the civil law suit she filed against him in 2008 as a “financial dispute.”
He added that Treanor has yet to pay the entire settlement of $300,000 plus interest.
“He has only paid about half of the settlement,” Barasch said.
“And then he claimed that he had no more money, which is shocking for a guy who would have liked to build a casino.”