Christian County Reserve Deputy Facing Additional Federal Charges; Investigation Into Sheriff Ongoing:

Print

Email

Share

Republish

By Kathee Baird

May 6, 2015

Marty Brickey (courtesy Facebook)

Springfield, Mo.- A reserve deputy sheriff for the Christian County Sheriff’s Office was indicted by a federal grand jury today on additional charges related to a $14.5 million investment fraud scheme that was unsealed last week.
-

Marty Layne Brickey, 44, of Republic, Mo., was charged in a 30-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Springfield, Mo. Today’s superseding indictment replaces an indictment that was returned on June 10, 2014, and adds additional charges.

-

Brickey has been commissioned as a reserve deputy sheriff in Christian County, Mo., since 2012.
-

Including three counts of wire fraud and six counts of money laundering contained in the original indictment, today’s indictment charges Brickey with a total of 10 counts of wire fraud, 13 counts of money laundering and seven counts of failure to pay employment taxes.
-

According to the indictment, Brickey owned and operated several companies that marketed, promoted and managed software development. Interzone Entertainment, LLC, had offices located in Springfield, Chicago, Ill., Perth, Australia, Belo Horizonte, Brazil, and in China before it ceased operations in February 2010. Big Collision Games, LLC, had offices in Texas and in Dublin, Ireland. MasterTitle Games, Inc., and Spectacle Games maintained offices in Austin, Texas. Brickey also owned Zoonik USA, Inc., and Studio Avenue, Inc.
-

The federal indictment alleges that Brickey defrauded investors of more than $14.5 million in a scheme that operated from January 2008 to January 2014. Brickey allegedly told victim investors that their investment funds would be used to bring a video game to market and they would share in the profits. Brickey made false statements to potential investors regarding the amount of capital he had raised from other investors, the indictment says, and how close his companies were to bringing a product to market.
-

Brickey allegedly told potential investors he was working with, or close to receiving investments from, various celebrities and important persons, including Shaquille O’Neal, Kanye West, Kim Kardashian, the Sheik of Abu Dhabi and various corporate entities.
-

In reality, the indictment says, Brickey used a substantial amount of investor funds to pay his personal expenses unrelated to the development and marketing of any video game, and to repay prior investors who had demanded the return of their money. None of Brickey’s companies brought a video game to market, and the total revenue of Brickey’s companies during this time period was approximately $2,281.
-

Brickey is charged with seven counts of failure to pay employment tax (including federal income taxes, Medicare and Social Security taxes of employees) related to his role as president of Interzone from August 2006 to December 2011.
-

Between April 2009 and June 2011, the indictment says, Brickey caused Interzone to make hundreds of thousands of dollars of expenditures for his personal benefit while, at the same time, failing to pay over to the IRS the payroll tax due from Interzone’s employees’ paychecks. Interzone allegedly failed to account for and pay over approximately $102,813 in payroll taxes during those seven quarters.
-

The FBI launched an investigation into the Christian County Sheriff’s Office’s financial dealings and Kyle’s campaign donations earlier this year.  Several sources close to the federal investigation into Sheriff Joey Kyle say that Brickey “is the money man” connected to Kyle. 
-

Federal investigators requested records from the county from several companies that do business with the sheriff’s office, along with Christian County audit reports and campaign finance information for Sheriff Joey Kyle.
-

Subpoena documents obtained show federal investigators requested spending records between the sheriff’s office and several local business, including EDI Plus, APT (firearms and training,) Ozark Body Works, Ozark Tire, Richard Crites ( a Springfield attorney) and Fiocchi of America (an ammunition supplier.) 
-

As of today, there have been no charges filed against Kyle.

Click here for reuse options!

Copyright 2015 Stone County Chronicle

Share