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.
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 a “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.
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 who want to live off the grid and be positioned to survive a global catastrophe.
The Vivos xPoint complex is part of a larger network of survivalist housing options offered under
the Vivos Global Shelter Network. The company website continues to offer lease or purchase
options for the complex in South Dakota as well as in Indiana, Europe and at an undisclosed
location.
According to prior reporting by News Watch, 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.
The Xiong lawsuit includes as defendants Vicino himself, the Vivos xPoint Investment Group,
Fractional Villas Inc. and the Vicino Family Trust.
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.
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.”
There is currently no criminal charge known to be filed against Vicino for his acts and
management of the Vivos complex.
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at sdnewswatch.org. Contact content director Bart Pfankuch: 605-937-9398/
bart.pfankuch@sdnewswatch.org.
