Wendy DiVecchio points to disagreement with the board over LVR’s ownership of its MLS as a potential reason she was suspended, investigated and subsequently fired last week.
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The Las Vegas Realtors executive who was suspended from her role as CEO following allegations of fraud said she was improperly terminated following medical issues and a disagreement over the organization’s ownership of the local multiple listing service.
Those details come out of a lawsuit filed by Wendy DiVecchio this week. DiVecchio was put on leave last summer and subsequently terminated on Jan. 27 and is now suing the organization and former board members after she said she was improperly fired following a prolonged and twisting investigation.
DiVecchio alleged board members interfered with her contract, defamed her and that the organization she ran between 2017 and 2024 wrongfully terminated her and breached her contract.
The lawsuit stems from allegations of election tampering that surfaced last August, when DiVecchio was suspended with pay for what she said were baseless allegations. It also continues a tumultuous 12 months for the organization, which saw a physical altercation break out at one of its meetings last year following a dispute.
The investigation and dismissal followed what DiVecchio said was a disagreement between herself and members of the Las Vegas Realtors board over the relationship between LVR and the multiple listing service that LVR owns and controls.
DiVecchio’s complaint didn’t provide details about the disagreement, including whether she or board members believed the organization should sever its ties with the MLS. Her attorney didn’t answer a question about what DiVecchio and the board disagreed on related to the MLS ownership.
A representative for the Las Vegas Realtors didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment about allegations DiVecchio made in her complaint, which was filed on Monday.
The former CEO alleged her reputation was irreparably damaged after the board leaked details of the investigation in the media before it was concluded, according to the complaint.
“One way or another, the LVR Investigation was designed to ensure that [DiVecchio] would be dismissed from her position, irrespective of what any evidence showed,” the complaint said. “Simply stated, the LVR Board denied [DiVecchio] any sort of due process as to these new allegations and Plaintiff remains unaware of the details of these new allegations as to this writing.”
DiVecchio served as the organization’s CEO between January 2017 and January 2025 and, therefore, was a member of the board of directors. She worked at the organization since June 1999.
According to her complaint, DiVecchio’s contract stated she’d serve as CEO of the organization through the end of 2032 and that she had never been disciplined or received a negative review during her 25 years with the organization.
She was suspended on Aug. 9, two days after LVR held its election of board members for terms that would begin in 2025.
The ensuing investigation lasted four months, according to the complaint, during which time board members shifted their focus in an attempt to find cause to terminate DiVecchio.
In that time, DiVecchio was instructed not to contact any of the organization’s nearly 15,000 members during what she was told would be a 30-day investigation into alleged election tampering.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported on Aug. 13 that it had obtained an internal memo from former LVR President Merri Perry about alleged election tampering. The memo didn’t name DiVecchio, but unnamed real estate agents in the area confirmed DiVecchio’s suspension for the news outlet at the time.
The complaint alleged there had been a “series of resignations” and “at least one forcible removal” of a director of the board while the investigation into DiVecchio was ongoing.
Perry was set to serve on the board as immediate past president in 2025, according to the lawsuit.
“Yet, for reasons withheld from the public as well as the LVR membership (but which will be developed through the instant action), Perry unceremoniously resigned from her position with the LVR Board on or about January 2, 2025.”
Joshua Campa was set to serve as president in 2025 but also resigned on about the same day.
Geoffrey Lavell was elected to serve a two-year term in 2025. The lawsuit alleges Lavell resigned in November but said he remained a member of the board about a month later.
LVR didn’t respond to a question about who currently serves on the board, and the information is password-protected.
The complaint alleges that former LVR vice president and Vegas agent Shane Nguyen resigned from his position on Nov. 27, 2024.
DiVecchio alleges in her complaint that the board members resigned “in order to distance themselves from the wrongdoing and negative publicity associated with their actions taken not only in relation to the 2024 election, but also with regard to their adverse and improper actions toward Plaintiff specifically, in the course of the LVR Investigation, with the ultimate goal of seeing Plaintiff dismissed.”
DiVecchio also said that she had suffered an unspecified medical episode in August during a meeting where she was “confined to the floor and unable to get up for a period of time.”
During that meeting, DiVecchio alleges that Nguyen “stated his opinion to the Board that he considered the episode unprofessional and further opined that LVR cannot have a CEO with medical problems,” according to the complaint.
Nguyen didn’t respond to a request for comment about his alleged resignation or the alleged comments. DiVecchio said in her complaint that the statements were the subject of a review by the Nevada Equal Rights Commission.
The Nevada Equal Rights Commission told Inman it doesn’t confirm the existence of its reviews unless subpoenaed by a member of the review.