Sunday, April 12, 2009

Marathon-Mogul Accused of Fraud

Runners, vendors and business associates from Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, Chicago and New York for years have accused Devine Racing owner Chris Devine of failing to pay bills on time and reneging on deals.

Records show the 55-year-old Chicago resident, who also owns a home in Salt Lake City, has been taken to court at least four dozen times by unhappy businesses and individuals.

Now a new federal lawsuit filed in New York alleges the radio-station-owner-turned-marathon-mogul financed his complex web of troubled companies by defrauding isolated multimillionaire C. Robert Allen of nearly $70 million.

No criminal charges have been filed against Devine, who portrays himself as a hard-working and genuine man whose financial woes are the fault of "bad management" by others.

The family of the 78-year-old Allen, however, characterizes Devine in a much worse light. Their lawsuit accuses him and business partner Bruce Buzil of racketeering, fraud and embezzlement in their dealings with Allen, described as a "mentally and physically frail" man the pair took advantage of.

Nate Read, a New York City lawyer representing the Allens, including son Luke, who is now his father's legal guardian: "It is a sad story. It resonates with a lot of people. ... He has misled a lot of people to great tragedy."

Full Article and Source:
Salt Lake marathon owner accused of fraud, 'downright immoral' business practices

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's a shame but it seems like the vultures circle anyone of wealth.

Anonymous said...

There are 2 types of people:

PREDATORS and their PREY

Betty said...

Racketeering, fraud, and embezzlement are standard practices in guardianship abuse.

Anonymous said...

You don't need great wealth to be captured into the sick system;
they'll even take someone with nothing more than Social Security.

There's a case going on in Florida where a state court is battling the SSA for control.

Federal law controls. How can a state court judge thing otherwise?