Deutsche Bank's $4 Billion Las Vegas Bet

``The bank reluctantly inherited the Cosmopolitan in 2008, just as the local and national economy began to crumble. After running into cash-flow problems, Bruce Eichner, then the owner of the casino and a developer mainly known for high-end residential properties in New York and South Beach, defaulted on his $768 million construction loan from Deutsche Bank. The lender foreclosed on Mr. Eichner and took control of the property, one of the first signs that the city was headed for hard times... Many big lenders and opportunistic investors ended up owning troubled, half-built properties in recent years. Some walked away, like Morgan Stanley, which took a $1 billion write-off on the Revel in Atlantic City. Others decided to wait out the economic downturn. The billionaire Carl C. Icahn, who picked up the unfinished Fontainebleau resort in Las Vegas in bankruptcy for $156 million in 2009, still has not restarted construction on it.''