<table> </table> Maybe it was fortunate that California venture capitalist William &#8220;Boots&#8221; Del Biaggio did not bring an NHL franchise to Kansas City.</p><p>Del Biaggio, who at one time had an agreement with Anschutz Entertainment Group and the Sprint Center to own and operate an NHL club if one became available, is under federal investigation for his business dealings.</p><p>Del Biaggio, now a part-owner of the Nashville Predators, is also a defendant in a civil suit filed in California charging that he carried out &#8220;a complete fraud&#8221; against an investment firm that has accused him of scamming it out of $3 million in a bogus loan deal, according to a lawsuit filed this week in Santa Clara County Superior Court.</p><p>The lawsuit prompted the federal investigation of Del Biaggio, who last week resigned &#8220;for personal reasons&#8221; from Sand Hill Capital, a Silicon Valley lending firm he co-founded in 1997. The lawsuit does not target Sand Hill but instead names Del Biaggio, 40, San Francisco investment bank Merriman, Curhan, Ford &amp; Co., and Scott Cacchione, a Merriman managing director.</p><p>Del Biaggio, along with partner Warren Woo, owns almost 32 percent of the Predators, making him the second-largest investor in the franchise. When the club was for sale last summer, Del Biaggio severed his ties with AEG and joined a consortium of Nashville-area businessmen and bought the Predators.</p><p>Although the new ownership group secured a new lease with the city for Nashville&#8217;s Sommet Center, there are still attendance thresholds the club must meet during the next two seasons to keep the lease in force.</p><p>The Predators issued a statement saying Del Biaggio&#8217;s departure from Sand Hill Capital will have no impact on the club&#8217;s operations.</p><p>&#8220;We are focused on ticket sales, building long-term business partnerships in middle Tennessee and improving our team for the 2008-09 season, beginning with the &#8230; draft just three weeks away,&#8221; the club said.</p><p>Del Biaggio has not commented publicly, and according to the <em>San Jose Mercury News</em>, has hired a San Francisco lawyer specializing in white-collar crime, who said Del Biaggio &#8220;will cooperate fully with any investigation.&#8221;