Jury rules unanimously in alleged AstroWorld scheme



Keep going for a look back at AstroWorld in its prime. Thrill-seekers get their money's worth at AstroWorld on The Viper, the amusement park's first steel-loop roller coaster.

Keep going for a look back at AstroWorld in its prime. Thrill-seekers get their money's worth at AstroWorld on The Viper, the amusement park's first steel-loop roller coaster. Photo: Paul S. Howell, HC Staff Photo: Paul S. Howell, HC Staff Image 1 of / 56 Caption Close Jury rules unanimously in alleged AstroWorld scheme 1 / 56 Back to Gallery

A jury issued a unanimous, 27-page verdict on Tuesday against the alleged perpetrators of a scheme to lure investor money into a fraudulent plan to develop the former site of Six Flags AstroWorld.

The defendants, a handful of corporations and individuals, were found liable for civil racketeering charges, including money laundering and wire fraud.

The plaintiff, a group of investors known as B Choice Limited, will most likely be awarded a sum in excess of $100 million once complex calculations are done on the 42 questions the jury was asked to answer after a nearly two-year trial, barring any appeals.

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"They took my client on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride," said Frank Spagnoletti, a lawyer representing the plaintiff. "This was the last ride of the AstroWorld property."

According to the original petition, filed in July 2014, defendant Epicentre Development Associates, LLC, had solicited investments to develop a high-density residential area on the 104-acres that previously hosted Houston's roller coaster theme park.

The jury ruled Tuesday that Epicentre took $25 million from B Choice, used it to buy about 11 acres, ran the money through a series of mortgages as an alleged laundering technique then pocketed the leftovers.

"Nothing was developed and my client lost $25 million," Spagnoletti said. "They were not happy about that."

The awarded sum will most likely be much larger than $25 million because the case was litigated under the Racketeer Influences and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO Act, a statute usually used to bring criminal charges against fraudulent operations. Under RICO, that $25 million can be tripled.

The jury also opted to award $35 million in punitive damages to B Choice.

The RICO statute is relatively uncommon in civil cases as it requires substantially more proof than mere fraud.

"Fraud is the easy part. The tricky part is that you must demonstrate that there's an ongoing pattern of criminal activity that is the cause of this loss," said David Kwok, a specialist on white collar crime at the University of Houston Law Center. "That there is some sort of ongoing threat to society going on."

Lawyers for the defendants were not immediately available for comment.