ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Last week, Florida Department of Law Enforcement agents arrested eight people on racketeering and grand theft charges. The group was accused of stealing millions of dollars from Simon Properties, which owns several big malls in central Florida and all over the world.
On Monday, Channel 9's Kathi Belich sat down with the lawyer representing two of the co-defendants.
The lawyer representing Dale Takio and Ryan Deming, whom he said are well known in the local marketing profession, said the two have done nothing wrong.
He said that the FDLE has charged them based on guilt through association and said they are being unfairly hammered on the Internet over the accusations.
Orlando attorney Craig Brand that Takio and Deming were caught in a net that was cast too wide and said he believes FDLE investigators were misled.
"My clients had nothing to do with it, didn't know about it. It wasn't their business. They were hired to do jobs. They did their jobs," Brand said.
Brand said Deming and Takio were targeted in a 2011 federal lawsuit by Simon Properties, but says the company failed to prove wrongdoing.
"They could not prove their case by a preponderance of the evidence. In fact, in many cases they could not prove their allegations at all," Brand said.
Last week, FDLE investigators held a news conference in which they said Deming, Takio and six others, including former Simon Properties marketing vice president Lynette Lauria, were involved in a scheme that took $20 million from Simon Properties.
Investigators said Lauria authorized millions of dollars in payments by Simon to shell companies created by the others for work that was never done, and that her shell company got kickbacks.
FDLE investigators now say it was $4 million, not $20 million, that was allegedly taken.
Brand said Thomas Brignolo was Simon's star witness. Two days after the arrests, Brignolo suddenly died. Brand believes his death was connected to the case.
"He felt horrible that my clients got dragged into this," Brand said.
Deming's arraignment is scheduled for June 10. He is expected to enter a not-guilty plea.
FDLE investigators said the charges the defendants face could bring maximum prison sentences of twenty years.