Dan Lasater (1943–)

Dan Lasater was an entrepreneur in various enterprises including fast-food chain restaurants, thoroughbred horse racing, and other investments. He was successful early in life and accumulated substantial wealth. He was a friend of Arkansas politicians, including Bill Clinton, and had a high profile in the community. At age forty-three, he pleaded guilty to criminal charges related to drugs and served time in prison.

Danny Ray Lasater was born on January 2, 1943, in the White County community of Marion to Dallas G. Lasater and Clista A. Lasater; he had an older brother, Donald. He grew up in Kokomo, Indiana, where he graduated from high school, but he did not attend college. In 1962, at age nineteen, he married Judy Kay Scott in Kokomo, and they later divorced. He married Linda M. Jones in 1977 at his horse-breeding farm in Marion, Florida.

After some experience managing McDonald’s restaurants as a teenager, with partner Norm Weise, he started a fast-food chain, Scotty’s Hamburgers, in Kokomo. In 1968, they opened the Ponderosa Steak House chain. The business was successful, eventually reaching 650 restaurants, and was by 1972 the country’s largest steak house chain. After a public stock offering, between the years of 1970 and 1972, the shares went from $3 to $84. Lasater sold out in 1972 and retired as a multi-millionaire at age thirty.

Lasater began investing in thoroughbred horse racing and became a successful and well-known owner and breeder. One of his horses, Royal Glint, won more than $1 million from 1970 to 1976. His stable dominated Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs (Garland County) in the 1970s. The National Thoroughbred Racing Association honored him three consecutive years (1974–1976) with the Eclipse Award as Outstanding Thoroughbred Owner. Lasater Stables was the leading money winner in the country from 1973 through 1977.

Lasater moved to Little Rock (Pulaski County) in 1983, buying a home in the exclusive Edgehill Road neighborhood for $535,000. He remodeled and enlarged it, selling it in 1989 for $1,630,000. In 1984, he bought a ski resort, Angel Fire Resort, in New Mexico for $20,000,000. After a few years of unprofitable operation, he sold it in 1987. With two partners, he started what became the Dixie Cafe restaurant chain in Little Rock. He also was involved in starting Andy’s, which eventually had 175 restaurants.

In 1979, at Oaklawn Park, Lasater had met Virginia Kelley, Bill Clinton’s mother, and through her met Roger, Clinton’s half brother. After moving to Arkansas, Lasater became a friend of the family and close friend and financial supporter of Bill Clinton. He had back-door access to the Arkansas Governor’s Mansion, and security guards did not log his entry and departure, knowing he was a close friend. State troopers who chauffeured Clinton said Clinton sometimes would have them stop so he could visit Lasater’s office. Clinton took trips in Lasater’s airplane, including a trip to the Kentucky Derby with Hillary Clinton. Lasater once loaned Roger Clinton $8,000 to pay gambling debts, and at the governor’s request, he gave Roger a job at his horse farm in Florida.

In 1980, Lasater and two partners founded the investment securities firm Collins, Locke & Lasater, specializing in municipal bonds. David Collins had experience in the industry. George Locke, a former state senator, had been in the insurance and construction business in southeastern Arkansas. The firm occupied building in downtown Little Rock and developed it into a 16,000-square-foot headquarters with a multi-tiered trading floor, an employee restaurant, a sauna and other amenities for employees, and artwork and antiques. The firm benefitted from being selected as managing underwriter for two state agency bond issues.

The company quickly gained a reputation as one of the “bond daddy” operations common in Little Rock at the time. They preyed on small banks and savings and loan operations with boiler-room, high-pressure sales coupled with entertainment of good customers with trips in Lasater’s airplane and parties, sometimes involving young females.

The firm had financial problems and was sanctioned by securities regulators. Lasater bought out his partners. Locke left the firm, and Collins was removed as CEO but stayed with the firm for a while. A new CEO was hired from outside the company, and the name was changed to Lasater & Company.

Lasater became involved in drugs personally and as a dealer. Both state and federal authorities investigated him. Some reports stated that both his horse breeding farm in Florida and the Angel Fire resort were centers for drug distribution. In 1986, he was indicted and pleaded guilty to cocaine dealing and was sentenced to thirty months in prison. He served six months in federal prison, followed by four months in a halfway house and two months in home detention. Collins and Locke each pleaded guilty to the drug charge and were imprisoned.

After Clinton was elected president, the relationship he had had with Lasater while he was governor received publicity in the local and national press, including the Wall Street Journal and New York Times, and it was noted in the Congressional Record.

After his imprisonment, Lasater maintained a low profile in the community. He maintained business activities through his Phoenix Group holding company, which was active in real estate development and other investments. In interviews, he stated that he had been drug free even before sentencing and now attended church regularly. He began participating in charitable activities, including serving in a soup kitchen and assisting in a project to provide food and shelter for the homeless.

For additional information:
Briton, JoBeth. “Agency Denies Lasater License.” Arkansas Gazette, July 27, 1991, p. 10C.

———. “Lasater, Hannahs Form Mortgage, Securities Firm.” Arkansas Gazette, May 11, 1991, p. 8C.

Casey, Patrick. “Judge Hands Lasater, Locke Prison Term on Drug Accounts.” Arkansas Democrat, December 19, 1986, pp. 1A, 9A.

White, George. “3 Sentenced in Lasater Cocaine Case ‘Nightmare.’” Arkansas Gazette, December 19, 1986, pp. 1A, 9A.

W. W. Satterfield
Little Rock, Arkansas