> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.sdnewswatch.org/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Igloo bunkers owner sued in federal RICO civil fraud lawsuit - URL: https://www.sdnewswatch.org/south-dakota-igloo-bunker-rico-civil-fraud-lawsuit/ - Published: 2026-09-28T09:00:33.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-28T09:00:32.000Z - Description: The Vivos xPoint "prepper" complex near Edgemont has been the subject of frequent litigation. Now the owner is accused of financial improprieties and racketeering. - Author: Bart Pfankuch - Tags: News/Investigations The owner of a survivalist bunker complex in southwestern South Dakota is being sued in civil court under the same federal law that prosecutors often use to convict people involved in the mafia, street gangs or white-collar scams. The lawsuit filed under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO, claims that Robert K. Vicino is operating a conspiracy that defrauded a major investor in the project who also sought to lease a bunker at the site. Vicino owns the old earthen ordinance bunkers south of Edgemont. The lawsuit filed Sept. 3 makes multiple claims of contract and financial wrongdoing by Vicino, of Del Mar, California, the owner of the Vivos xPoint bunker community, and three legal entities associated with his ownership. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/cb/ab/cbabab5e-2dc6-462c-94a0-b72956c0d224/content/images/2026/09/2024-10-4-Empty-bunker-1.JPG) Empty bunkers at the Vivos xPoint complex, such as this one shown in 2024, can be outfitted into homes that can supposedly withstand a natural or manmade disaster. (Photo: Bart Pfankuch / South Dakota News Watch) At its most basic level, the lawsuit alleges that Vicino has breached contracts, committed wire fraud and unjustly enriched himself after New Jersey resident Xiong Xiong paid $110,000 to lease a finished residential bunker and invested $1 million into Vicino's company that operates the Vivos xPoint complex. The 20-page lawsuit seeks up to several million dollars in compensatory damages related to "unpaid distributions, improperly diverted funds, overcharged management fees, undocumented commissions and personal expenses charged." Since the early 1970s, RICO cases have sometimes been filed by federal prosecutors to bring charges against criminal operations, including those run by the mafia, street gangs and other organized crime entities, rather than to prosecute individuals for singular crimes that may be obscured by connections to a larger conspiracy. Xiong's local attorney, Aaron D. Eiesland of Rapid City, said the case was filed as a civil court action under RICO because of the “pattern of criminal and corrupt activity” involved. “It’s tying them all together and bringing out more under one umbrella,” Eiesland said. “Any criminal activity is also going to be a civil violation if there’s a victim, and in this case, that’s what it is.” An email sent by News Watch to Vivos xPoint seeking comment from Vicino was not returned. An email and call to Vicino's local attorney, Eric Schlimgen of Spearfish, were also not returned. ## Lawsuit is part of a pattern of issues at Vivos The lawsuit is the latest of several legal actions surrounding the embattled complex that sits on treeless, windswept prairie lands 8 miles south of Edgemont in Fall River County. The Vivos xPoint community includes hundreds of above-ground, earth-covered concrete bunkers that were used by the U.S. military from 1942 to 1967 to store conventional and chemical munitions in a town once known as Igloo. Vicino purchased and developed a large portion of the former Black Hills Army Depot munitions facility in 2016\. The 2,200-square-foot bunkers are now rented as residences, mostly to survivalists, or “preppers,” who want to live off the grid and be positioned to survive a global catastrophe. The Vivos xPoint complex – marketed as "the largest survival community on earth" – is part of a larger network of survivalist housing options offered under the Vivos Global Shelter Network. The [company website](https://terravivos.com/?ref=sdnewswatch.org) continues to offer lease or purchase options for the complex in South Dakota as well as in Indiana, Europe and at an undisclosed location. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/cb/ab/cbabab5e-2dc6-462c-94a0-b72956c0d224/content/images/2026/09/2024-10-4-bunkers-wide-view-1.JPG) More than 500 above-ground concrete bunkers and 100 miles of unpaved roads are part of the Vivos xPoint residential complex, shown on Oct. 4, 2024, near Igloo, S.D. (Photo: Bart Pfankuch / South Dakota News Watch) The site offers leased housing within Vivos Indiana in an underground former military nuclear shelter that can reportedly survive a 20-megaton blast and provide survival beneath the surface for up to a year. The Vivos Europa underground complex is in part of a mountainside carved out by the Soviets during the Cold War, the website states. According to [prior reporting by News Watch](https://www.sdnewswatch.org/igloo-south-dakota-prepper-bunker-vivos-xpoint/), Vivos xPoint in South Dakota has been beset by conflicts between residents and employees, numerous lawsuits, several complaints to the state attorney general’s office and a [near-fatal shooting of a complex employee by a tenant in 2024](https://www.sdnewswatch.org/bunker-community-igloo-south-dakota-vivos/). Vicino has filed lawsuits in eviction actions against residents and also has been sued by residents, including in a class-action case that challenged the legality of the extensive lease and rules Vicino uses to govern the property. The South Dakota Supreme Court [ruled last year](https://www.sdnewswatch.org/igloo-lease-dispute-supreme-court-ruling/) that the lease was legal. ![An occupied bunker at the Vivos xPoint complex near Edgemont, S.D.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/cb/ab/cbabab5e-2dc6-462c-94a0-b72956c0d224/content/images/2026/09/2024-10-4-Occupied-bunker-front-1.JPG) An occupied bunker at the Vivos xPoint complex near Edgemont, S.D., shown Oct. 4, 2024\. (Photo: Bart Pfankuch / South Dakota News Watch) Residents at Vivos xPoint can pay $55,000 to lease a bunker for 99 years or pay $75,000 to own a bunker outright, according to the website. The company offers a "glamping" option for $10,000 to completely outfit a bunker for residential use. The Xiong lawsuit includes as defendants Vicino himself, the Vivos xPoint Investment Group, Fractional Villas Inc. and the Vicino Family Trust. The lawsuit states that Vicino is the managing or "apex" officer in those legal entities. ## Case says bunker and financial promises broken Like the new Xiong lawsuit, which makes a claim of "fraudulent inducement" by Vicino, other residents have complained that Vicino has failed to provide extensive community amenities promised at the time they signed leases, including a mail station, gym, health clinic and restaurant. One section of the lawsuit centers on promises by Vicino to provide Xiong a "turnkey finish" of a bunker at Vivos, for which Xiong paid Vicino $110,000\. The lawsuit states that the bunker was supposed to have plumbing, power, water and sewage services but "was never constructed as promised." ![This sign just inside the entrance to the Vivos xPoint bunker complex](https://storage.ghost.io/c/cb/ab/cbabab5e-2dc6-462c-94a0-b72956c0d224/content/images/2026/09/2024-10-4-Vivos-coming-soon-sign-1.JPG) This sign just inside the entrance to the Vivos xPoint bunker complex, shown Oct. 4, 2024, near Igloo, S.D., indicates that most promised amenities are still "coming soon." A new lawsuit says many promised amenities still are not provided. (Photo: Bart Pfankuch / South Dakota News Watch) But the Xiong lawsuit goes far deeper in its claims of financial irregularities by Vicino and the business entities he controls. The case indicates that Vicino told Xiong that the 575 fortified bunkers at Vivos Point had an estimated replacement value of $500 million and that the project would generate cumulative investor returns of 577% through 2024. As a result, Xiong agreed to wire Vicino $1 million in two installments as an investment in the project in 2020\. The payment was equal to a 13.33% stake or "membership interest" in the Vivos Investment Group, the lawsuit states. ****Get free, fact-based South Dakota news and information** in a weekday email. No spam. Cancel any time. [Subscribe ](https://www.sdnewswatch.org/#/portal) It claims that Vicino did not use the bunker fee or investment funds as promised but instead that "Vicino, VxIG (investment group) and Fractional Villas diverted funds to personal and affiliate expenditures rather than bunker construction or community infrastructure." The lawsuit also claims that Vicino miscalculated the amount of a 20% management fee included in contracts, "resulting in a substantial overcharge to (the Vivos investment group) and its members." The lawsuit further states that Vicino's certified profit and loss statement includes a 10% commission amounting to about $750,000 "in unexplained 'commissions' (that) represents funds that have been extracted from (the investment group) without authorization, documentation or legitimate business purpose." Some of the money held by the investment group was used to pay for "personal and affiliated expenses that are not legitimate," including consumer subscriptions, airline loyalty purchases and about $75,000 in expenses for a 2004 Cessna airplane registered to Fractional Villas, the suit states. Also, the investment group paid $126,000 in rent for office space that is located at Vicino's home in California, according to the suit. ****Join other South Dakotans and support statewide, fact-based news and information.** [Donate ](https://www.sdnewswatch.org/donate/) To date, the $1 million investment by Xiong into Vivos has resulted in two return payments of about $20,000, despite promises by Vicino to make large distributions to Xiong, including roughly $218,000 labeled in financial statements as a distribution to Xiong. "None of these promised distributions materialized," the lawsuit states, noting that The case seeks recovery of compensatory damages including but not limited to "unpaid distributions, improperly diverted funds, overcharged management fees, undocumented commissions and personal expenses charged to (the investment group)" as well as attorney and case fees. The lawsuit also seeks to obtain a full accounting of the finances of the investment group and imposition of a trust over all assets held by Vicino, the investment group and Fractional Villas. The suit also notes that the RICO statute allows for a tripling of any actual damages suffered by the plaintiff. In proposing the case as a violation of RICO statutes, the lawsuit states Vicino and his business entities defrauded the plaintiff "through a pattern of racketeering activity" and that "Vicino directed the scheme from its inception." Ultimately, the lawsuit claims that Vicino and Fractional Villas made "material misrepresentations with the intent to deceive plaintiff and to induce him to rely on them ... and to invest a total of $1.11 million." The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court in the Western Division of South Dakota and demands a jury trial to settle the claims contained in it. There is currently no criminal charge known to be filed against Vicino for his acts and management of the Vivos complex. [Share your thoughts on this story](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScdTmGFf24Uhwiwd%5FndSxHkv6oBGSAy1LxF9BbwRbhBK5KflA/viewform?usp=sf%5Flink&ref=sdnewswatch.org) **South Dakota News Watch* is an independent nonprofit. *Read*, *subscribe* for free and *donate* at* [*sdnewswatch.org*](http://sdnewswatch.org/?ref=sdnewswatch.org)*. *Contact* content director Bart Pfankuch:605-937-9398/* [*bart.pfankuch@sdnewswatch.org*](mailto:bart.pfankuch@sdnewswatch.org)*.*