Tim Shelley / Peoria Public Radio
Former Hotel Pere Marquette developers Gary Matthews and Monte Brannan were indicted Tuesday on 21 federal felony counts of money laundering, consipracy to commit money laundering, mail fraud, and concealment of bankruptcy assets.
In a 26-page indictment, Assistant U.S. Attorney Darilyn Knauss said the two men defrauded their investors, the city of Peoria, lenders, and others by illegally diverting money earmarked for the hotel's renovation and revenue from the hotel project for their personal and business use.
Peoria taxpayers had significant skin in the game on the Pere Marquette deal. In 2012, the city loaned Matthews $7 million and doled out $29 million in grants to invigorate the redevelopment effort. The city subsequently had to eat those costs in 2018 when a bankruptcy court awarded ownership of the hotel to its largest investor, INDURE Build-to-Core, an union-owned real estate investment fund.