Indictment targets Trussville Entertainment District properties
, 2023-01-17 18:26:00,
A recent federal indictment links nine Trussville entertainment district properties to a massive tax evasion scheme. The 56-page lawsuit charges 11 people with a conspiracy to avoid paying nearly $20 million in federal excise taxes from a lucrative sports betting operation called Red44. The main defendant, Timothy Pughsley, faces 38 total charges in the case. He also owns 30 percent of the Downtown Trussville LLC company, which developed the entertainment district. In addition to several bank accounts linked to the defendants, prosecutors also outlined 30 total properties that they could prosecute. seize as punishment. Of those, nine are parcels in the Trussville Entertainment District, which currently houses shops and restaurants. The City of Trussville invested nearly $20 million of its own money in the project. “It’s paid dividends. Not just for that area, but for all of downtown and beyond. We’ve had a number of new businesses come here because they see what Trussville has done moving forward,” said Mayor Buddy Choat. Choat has The developer’s attorney, Jay Smith, told me the place should be fine. “I’m sure we’re going to have businesses open and we’re going to go ahead with what we had planned for that area,” Choat said. Retired federal judge John Carroll said there are several steps that must be taken before any property is seized in a criminal forfeiture. First, Pughsley would have to be convicted and prosecutors would have to…
,
To read the original article from news.google.com, Click here