Tsakopoulos was born in Rizes, a small village in Arcadia, Greece. He arrived in United States with his family in 1951, eventually settling in Sacramento, California after having lived in New York City and the Chicago, Illinois area. His older brother, George, who would arrive in the U.S. in 1955 after having been wounded in the Greek Civil War, would later also become a major investor with his brother in Sacramento real estate.[2]
Tsakopoulos founded Sacramento's AKT Development Inc. in 1964, which was when the company made its first real estate sale,[3] the business controls 47,000 acres around Sacramento.[4] George Tsakopoulos, his brother, died at the age of 81 in Sacramento, California,[5]
"The case grew out of Tsakopoulos' preparations to subdivide part of the 8,350 acres (3,380 hectares) Borden Ranch into apple orchards and vineyards. He used a method of soil preparation called deep plowing or deep ripping to loosen the clay subsurface of nearly 1,000 acres (400 hectares) so that the roots of deep-growing trees and vines could penetrate. During the course of that work, about 2 acres (0.81 hectares) of wetlands also were plowed, although to lesser depths."..."But Tsakopoulos argued that normal farming practices, including deep plowing, were excluded specifically from the Clean Water Act."[12]
"The government said that was true only if the plowing did not change the character of the farmland."[13]
Justice Anthony Kennedy had to recuse himself from the case because of his acquaintance with Tsakopoulos and only eight justices were left deciding the case. The ruling turned out to be a 4–4 tie. Because of the tie, the ruling against Tsakopoulos by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals was automatically affirmed.
.png)
