Michael Morton
George Maloof
Scott DeGraff, formerly a high-profile Las Vegas nightclub executive who co-founded the N9NE Group with restaurateur Michael Morton, was found dead Thursday in what Aspen, Colo., police preliminarily said appeared to be a suicide.
DeGraff, 47, had suffered a series of financial setbacks in recent years.
Aspen Police said that at about 5:30 a.m. Thursday, members of the Aspen Volunteer Fire Department were dispatched to a carbon monoxide alarm at a residence in the east end of Aspen. A police officer also responded.
When they arrived, the home was locked up, there were no signs of suspicious activity, no lights on and no cars in the driveway, police said. Unable to contact anybody or get inside, they left, police said.
Then, at about 8 a.m., the Aspen-Pitkin County Communications Center received a call from an owner of the home who had been notified by a security company of the carbon monoxide alarm.
Aspen police and firefighters were again dispatched to the home, where the owner had already entered, police said. Upon entering the home, responders found the body of a deceased man in a vehicle in the garage, police said.
The Pitkin County coroner’s office is expected to release the official cause of death.
“Preliminary indications are that the death is the result of suicide,” police said in a statement issued Thursday.
Morton and his wife, Jenna, remembered DeGraff on Thursday.
"Scott DeGraff and I met when we were 9 years old. We named the 9 Group after our lifelong friendship. He was one of the most creative and dynamic people I have ever known. Scott has many wonderful friends who love him very much. Jenna and I are very sad. Our thoughts are with his wife and children," Morton said.
DeGraff and Morton operated the now-closed Drink nightclub in Las Vegas and later the N9NE Group, which operated restaurants and nightclubs at the Palms hotel-casino in Las Vegas as well as in Chicago and Dallas.
Palms founder George Maloof Jr. took over management of the Palms venues under a settlement of litigation between Maloof and Morton that was announced in January.
“I am deeply saddened to hear about the passing of Scott DeGraff,” Maloof said in a statement. “Scott was a partner and played a major role in the development of the 9 Group (formerly N9NE Group) venues at the Palms. My thoughts and prayers are with his family at this difficult time.”