Oli, you've put your finger on an anomaly here: Though Geary knew that Michael "owned or controlled" three hotels and was moving on a fourth, he denied under oath owning any hotels:
QUESTADT
Is it true that you have a controlling interest in three of the major hotels in Las Vegas.
MICHAEL
No it is not true -- I own stock in some of the hotels there -- but very little.

Gangsters routinely take the Fifth at Congressional hearings. They're not trying to deny under oath that they're gangsters--their goal isn't legitimacy, it's to avoid prosecution. I'm suggesting that Michael's taking the Fifth would have called into question his entire legitimate front. That could have been enough to stimulate the Nevada Gaming Commission to start investigating Michael's ownership positions in the hotels and trying to link the owners of record to Michael, possibly subjecting him to criminal prosecution as well as loss of those licenses by the nominal owners. Even if there were no investigation, and no loss of licenses, Michael's reputation would have been seriously dented. Roth couldn't lose!