One of the most iconic buildings in Tallahassee – the DoubleTree Hotel – is at the center of new allegations revealed by a federal grand jury late Wednesday in the ever-growing public corruption case.

The grand jury issued a superseding indictment against local businessman John “J.T.” Burnette, who was initially indicted in May on charges of racketeering, extortion, mail fraud and false statements. Burnette was swept up in the same investigation that led to guilty pleas in August from former City Commissioner Scott Maddox and former Downtown Improvement Authority director Paige Carter-Smith.

The indictment includes new allegations against Burnette but not any new charges. The 27-page document says Burnette, the former owner of the Hotel Duval and current owner of the DoubleTree Hotel, caused a company to pay $110,000 in exchange for Maddox declaring a conflict and not voting on a matter in 2014 involving a rival hotel project. The indictment identifies the business only as Company A.

“The hotel developer’s proposed project would have created competition with Burnette’s real estate interests, including a nearby commercial real estate building and the planned purchase of a nearby hotel,” the indictment states.

More:Read the second superseding indictment of J.T. Burnette | Document

The dates and activities of the City Commission described in the superseding indictment point to the McKibbon Hotel Group, which wanted to buy a parcel owned by the city at the southwest corner of Tennessee and Monroe streets in the heart of downtown.

The company, which wanted to build a Hampton Inn & Suites, was represented by Gary Yordon, a lobbyist working for Governance Services at the time. Yordon acknowledged testifying before the grand jury on Wednesday.

Burnette’s attorney, Tim Jansen of Tallahassee, said the new allegations were not true.

“We categorically deny these new false allegations and hope to be able to be given adequate time to investigate and prove Mr. Burnette’s innocence,” Jansen said.

The indictment says that in December 2013, Burnette and Maddox agreed that Burnette would cause Company A to pay Governance Services, a consulting firm owned by Carter-Smith but secretly controlled by Maddox, $100,000 in exchange for Maddox’s recusal. The hotel developer was seeking extensions at the time to meet various city requirements.

Maddox told Carter-Smith of the plan; Burnette instructed Company A to hire Carter-Smith as a consultant. She later met with two Company A employees.

On Jan. 8, 2014, Carter-Smith sent Burnette a letter to Company A proposing an upfront retainer of $10,000 plus a “project management fee” of 2 percent of the project amount, which would be due six months after the award of the contract. Burnette revised the letter to say the fee would be due in 30 days after payment instead. The next day, Carter-Smith sent the letter as revised to Company A.

More from today:Witnesses appear before federal grand jury in Tallahassee public corruption probe

A few days later, a $10,000 check from Company A was deposited into Governance Services bank account, the indictment says.

On Feb. 12, 2014, Maddox abstained from voting on another extension of time sought by the McKibbon Hotel Group to buy the city parcel. That led to a 2-2 tie vote, with then commissioner Nancy Miller and Mayor John Marks voting yes and then commissioners Gil Ziffer and Andrew Gillum voting no.

The split decision effectively killed the hotel developer’s request. As a result, a previously approved option agreement expired, with the parcel going unsold to the hotel developer.

On March 31, 2014, Company A wired $2.2 million to another unnamed business, Company B, which listed Burnette as its registered agent. Several days later, Company B bought the DoubleTree Hotel, located just blocks from the city parcel. A couple of weeks after that, a $100,000 check from Company A was deposited into Governance Services’ bank account.

USA TODAY NETWORK reporter Jeffrey Schweers contributed to this report.

Contact Jeff Burlew at jburlew@tallahassee.com or follow @JeffBurlew on Twitter.