He followed that with suits alleging breach of contract, wrongful termination and misrepresentation. Meanwhile, Jeff and his lawyers spent 15 months trying get his father to appear at a deposition. When Werner broke the news that Jeff's brothers wouldn't write a letter on his behalf, he says Jeff became furious. EIGHT MONTHS AFTER its approval by the City Council, the peach-colored Bay 101 held its "grand opening." The elder Bumb may not have been feeling well, but he wasn't too sick to remember who was boss in this family. He started telling people around the office that he wanted out of the family business. EVERY DAY THE CLUB stayed closed, the Bumbs lost more money. He also disputes that such a letter was even necessary for Jeff to get licensed. Ultimately, Jeff says with resignation, he hopes I find the truth, "not my truth, not their truth, just the truth." EVERY DAY THE CLUB stayed closed, the Bumbs lost more money. `He drives by every day on his way to his Maverick Consulting development business in Mountain View, but he never gets off the Brokaw/First Street exit to pay a visit. Eight days after the molestation incident was reported to police--and one day after Jeff Bumb formally refused his father's $6.9 million buyout offer--George Bumb Sr. sent Jeff a curt typewritten memo informing Jeff that he was terminated effective immediately and had to clean out his desk before 5pm. The state, still busy conducting background checks, still hadn't approved the Bumbs and their partners' gaming licenses. (Tim Bumb, the school's director, says it was put there to save on rent. The elder Bumb may not have been feeling well, but he wasn't too sick to remember who was boss in this family. a natural person who has individual net worth, or joint net worth with the person's spouse, that exceeds $1 million at the time of such person's purchase of the securities, excluding the value of the . He started telling people around the office that he wanted out of the family business. A FEW DAYS AFTER returning from his son's Oct. 13, 1995, military graduation in San Diego, Jeff and his wife, Elizabeth, got some appalling news: Their 14-year-old daughter had been involved in a sexual relationship with an older male cousin. The Bumbs had a plenty of experience with a cash business through the Flea Market, which they've run for almost 40 years. VENZON WAS well known to the Bumbs. At the time, Jeff was in the midst of negotiating an arrangement to be bought out of the family businesses. Just so everyone got the point, Jeff Bumb announced to the press that he and Brian were divesting from Bay 101, and records show he eventually sold his shares for $1.4 million. "I mean," Jeff later said at a deposition, "it was a time of hurt and heartache for us--and not my father, not my mother, not my brother George, not my brother Tim, not Brian could care less." Jeff tells the story differently: "Matthew was my godson. VENZON WAS well known to the Bumbs. And then, just when it seemed as though family relations couldn't get any worse, they did. In a fit, he took the paper he was writing on, crumpled it up and threw it out the office door. When Jeff and Brian were denied licenses for Bay 101, Tim (above) and brother George Jr. jumped in. "He took care of it." And it was very explicit in there that no Bumbs could have anything to do with the club. But Jeff was confident. According to Werner, molestation of his daughter became part of a laundry list of damning things Jeff threatened to disclose if his buy-out demands weren't met. The elder Bumb may not have been feeling well, but he wasn't too sick to remember who was boss in this family. And he [Jeff] wants me to violate the condition which says in it that I sign away my rights and they close us down. Along the way, Jeff raised the ante, hiring Frank Ubhaus, a lawyer who represented Garden City card club, Bay 101's crosstown rival. The two, she said, never talked about what was going on while it was happening. Meanwhile, Jeff and his lawyers spent 15 months trying get his father to appear at a deposition. SAN ANTONIO, Texas (KBTX) - The family that owns the H-E-B supermarket chain is one of the richest families in America, according to rankings published by . At one point in the investigation, sheriff's detectives had Jeff's daughter call Matthew while he was working at the Flea Market to confirm the sexual activities. During his long tenure at the Flea Market, Venzon apparently developed a close relationship with George Bumb Sr. He started telling people around the office that he wanted out of the family business. She told police about at least seven other sexual encounters she had with her cousin after that. Christopher Gardner The guy doesn't get a slap on the hand." Along the way, Jeff raised the ante, hiring Frank Ubhaus, a lawyer who represented Garden City card club, Bay 101's crosstown rival. Near the end Venzon writes, "They want to bring up the 'murder-for-hire' investigation again. The gambling palace Jeff Bumb--the oldest son who is often described as the most entrepreneurial of the four brothers--had in mind was going to take a lot of effort and political skill. In fact, Tim and George had to agree not to collaborate with other Bumbs on any new business venture. So Jeff, Brian and the remaining non-family partners backed out of Bay 101, handing everything over to Tim and George Jr. You think this didn't break my heart?" Jeff didn't mind, though. One of George Bumb Sr.'s granddaughters explained to police that her family was very old-fashioned: "The woman gets the short end of the deal; she is a whore. "He worked for me." You know the school we went to?" According to Werner, molestation of his daughter became part of a laundry list of damning things Jeff threatened to disclose if his buy-out demands weren't met. Tim, the second youngest of George Bumb's four boys, was already running the family toy business, Fact Games, and Premium Pet Stores. "He worked for me." "My issue with [George Bumb Sr.]," Jeff Bumb complains about his father, "was his control of where you lived, what kind of house you bought, where your children went to school, who your friends are, whether your children went to college, who they would marry, what kind of wedding they would have." The card club has done more than bring unwanted public scrutiny to this insular group. They recorded the conversation. Well, guess what? AN ATTORNEY involved likened the whole contentious affair to a divorce. The teenagers had been drinking booze earlier in the night. Toward the end of the call, things got heated. In response to Jeff's legal attacks, George Bumb Sr. and Bumb & Associates filed two separate suits of their own to collect nearly $1 million in loans and interest they claimed Jeff never paid. He demanded $10 million from his brothers to compensate him for violating the purported secret Bay 101 deal. She told police about at least seven other sexual encounters she had with her cousin after that. Deputy chief Tom Wheatley says that police wondered if Venzon, or someone, destroyed the barrel to prevent a ballistics test from tracing a fired bullet to the gun. Bumb family attorney Ron Werner suggested that Jeff and his family had a hidden motive for waiting nearly a month to report the incident to police. Christopher Gardner Matthew is the kind of guy a relative described to police as "polite," the guy parents wanted their daughters to date. And as with any divorce, embarrassing private details about the family and its businesses made their way into the public record. ALL TOGETHER, the intrafamily litigation has spanned nearly three years. Even though all the lights were out, she told police that she knew it was Matthew "because the moonlight shined into the room through the large windows that faced the ocean." But Jeff says the loan dispute screwed up their moving plans. George Bumb Sr.'s loan-repayment demands came in July 1996, just as his oldest son and his wife were about to move to Los Gatos and break away from the family and its eastside enclave. And for nearly a month, they did. Even though all the lights were out, she told police that she knew it was Matthew "because the moonlight shined into the room through the large windows that faced the ocean." Within weeks, Jeff says, his six-month-old dog was dead, his cat was dead and the tires of a family car were slashed. A FEW DAYS AFTER returning from his son's Oct. 13, 1995, military graduation in San Diego, Jeff and his wife, Elizabeth, got some appalling news: Their 14-year-old daughter had been involved in a sexual relationship with an older male cousin. And for nearly a month, they did. Meanwhile, Jeff and his lawyers spent 15 months trying get his father to appear at a deposition. One of George Bumb Sr.'s granddaughters explained to police that her family was very old-fashioned: "The woman gets the short end of the deal; she is a whore. "The thing they probably value most is their privacy," Bryant explains. Along the way, Jeff raised the ante, hiring Frank Ubhaus, a lawyer who represented Garden City card club, Bay 101's crosstown rival. Originally he was scheduled for questioning on March 10, 1997, but the old man's lawyers explained that their client was extremely ill, suffering from "severe life-threatening conditions," practically on his death bed. And as with any divorce, embarrassing private details about the family and its businesses made their way into the public record. He and his brothers had a plan, he says. He also pulled off an armed robbery of the Aloha Roller Palace. Along the way, Jeff raised the ante, hiring Frank Ubhaus, a lawyer who represented Garden City card club, Bay 101's crosstown rival. He asked longtime family attorney Ron Werner if his brothers could write a recommendation letter for him, something state officials had told him he would need to be considered eligible for a gaming license. Finally, in July 1994, the state cleared Tim and George and gave them a conditional OK to let the games begin. "He worked for me." He wanted to relocate and expand Sutter's Place in Alviso from a five-table card room to a 40-table one, matching the size of Northern California's largest card room, Garden City in San Jose. Along the way, Jeff raised the ante, hiring Frank Ubhaus, a lawyer who represented Garden City card club, Bay 101's crosstown rival. And then there's the stuff that never made it into headlines, like the alleged murder-for-hire plot out at the Flea Market. The elder Bumb may not have been feeling well, but he wasn't too sick to remember who was boss in this family. The ensuing delay forced Jeff Bumb to lay off 600 workers he had hired. But Jeff says that privately he and his brothers had an oral agreement--which Tim Bumb now corroborates--that would one day let him repurchase his shares and become a partner in Bay 101 again. "He worked for me." In fact, on the day he was arrested, records show that Venzon pawned a 14-karat-gold diamond cluster ring and a ladies' gold tennis bracelet for a total of $298 at American Precious Metals, a jewelry store at the Flea Market run by Joseph Bumb. In fact, Tim and George had to agree not to collaborate with other Bumbs on any new business venture. Most of George Bumb Sr.'s five dozen grandchildren have grown up in the 95127 ZIP code and have attended the family-run K-12 Catholic school, St. Thomas More, located on Flea Market grounds since 1978. The court saga evolved into a battle of wills between a father--a man who wouldn't even let the Vatican tell him what to do--and his oldest son, determined to break free from the old man's grasp. But Jeff says the loan dispute screwed up their moving plans. The elder Bumb may not have been feeling well, but he wasn't too sick to remember who was boss in this family. He followed that with suits alleging breach of contract, wrongful termination and misrepresentation. Eight days after the molestation incident was reported to police--and one day after Jeff Bumb formally refused his father's $6.9 million buyout offer--George Bumb Sr. sent Jeff a curt typewritten memo informing Jeff that he was terminated effective immediately and had to clean out his desk before 5pm. If all this weren't enough, a sexual relationship between his 14-year-old daughter and a 19-year-old Bumb cousin was reported to police, slicing the family's cherished privacy wide open for the world to see. Tim now runs Bay 101, which he says is no easy task. Dealers stood at the tables, ready to deal the cards. Just so everyone got the point, Jeff Bumb announced to the press that he and Brian were divesting from Bay 101, and records show he eventually sold his shares for $1.4 million. First, Jeff tried to have the Bumb & Associates partnership dissolved after accusing his family of trying to force him out without paying him a fair price. Well, George, whether you want to believe it or not I do love you and you are like a father to me." But his dream, which now seemed so close to being a reality, was about to become a nightmare. During the Venzon investigation, San Jose police dug up an old file from November 1990 in which Venzon, a sheriff's deputy, had reported his department-issued Smith & Wesson 9 mm automatic stolen. Christopher Gardner But Jeff says the loan dispute screwed up their moving plans. Originally he was scheduled for questioning on March 10, 1997, but the old man's lawyers explained that their client was extremely ill, suffering from "severe life-threatening conditions," practically on his death bed. The gambling palace Jeff Bumb--the oldest son who is often described as the most entrepreneurial of the four brothers--had in mind was going to take a lot of effort and political skill. Jeff Bumb remembers that when he was going to school at Bellarmine in the '60s, the other kids would call him things like "Bumbsy" or "Bumbo." In response to Jeff's legal attacks, George Bumb Sr. and Bumb & Associates filed two separate suits of their own to collect nearly $1 million in loans and interest they claimed Jeff never paid.