By Marshall Zelinger
m.zelinger@krdo.com
Follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/mzelinger
EL PASO COUNTY – Fraud, theft and organized crime are among the 33-counts in a grand jury indictment of LandCo partners Ray Marshall and James Brodie. LandCo is the real estate firm picked to renovate the new United States Olympic Committee headquarters building. The indictment is based on investor allegations that Marshall and Brodie misled them about their investments. None of the 33 counts are related to the deal to keep the USOC in Colorado Springs.
"These are very serious charges. The USOC is not one of them, so no this does not involve the USOC," said El Paso/Teller County District Attorney Dan May. "There were some investors who came to our office to ask us to do an investigation."
City leaders and Colorado Springs Police weren't made aware of the extent of the investigation.
"They may have had a conflict of interest if we had even brought them into the investigation," said May.
LandCo CEO Ray Marshall and President James Brodie turned themselves in Wednesday morning. Neither is still in custody after posting a $50,000 bond.
"I will say they did turn in their passports," said May.
15 different investors are listed in the indictment. Each theft count deals with $15,000 or more. In a March 2009 NEWSCHANNEL 13 investigation, we uncovered a personal lawsuit by one of those investors. In a sworn statement that investor said he lost more than $1.2 million to Marshall. The investor also said in a sworn statement that he believed his investment money was being used to fund other Marshall projects, including the plan LandCo put together to win the USOC deal. That lawsuit was put on hold in February because the District Attorney started investigation criminal allegations against Marshall.
NEWSCHANNEL 13 asked May to define the organized crime counts.
"You typically have more than one person that may be involved in the activity and they've done at least two different acts," said May.
According to the Marshall indictment, he's accused of not disclosing information to investors. In 1994, Marshall was sued in Los Angeles for fraud and breach of contract. As a result, Marshall filed for personal bankruptcy in 1996, which was granted in 1997. The indictment suggests Marshall did not disclose that information to investors. The indictment also references Marshall told investors "he had a degree from the University of Colorado and that he attended graduate school at the Anderson School of Business. Raymond Marshall also represented to investors that the Bradford Mesa quarry had 400 million tons of rock. None of these facts were true."
Denver-based attorney Pamela Mackey represents Marshall. Mackey may be better known as the attorney for Kobe Bryant, when he was accused of sexually assaulting a Colorado woman. In a statement provided to NEWSCHANNEL 13, Mackey writes:
"Ray Marshall is not guilty of any crime. For many years Ray has brought jobs and development opportunities to our community. He successfully fought to keep the United States Olympic Committee headquarters in Colorado Springs and has championed the redevelopment of the downtown area. It is unfortunate that scarce government resources are being wasted in the prosecution of an innocent man."
NEWSCHANNEL 13 called both Marshall and Brodie on their cell phones. Neither returned our voice mails.
Marshall and Brodie are scheduled to be in court on Wednesday.
