{"id":186139,"date":"2021-09-17T15:54:13","date_gmt":"2021-09-17T22:54:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=186139"},"modified":"2021-09-17T16:02:56","modified_gmt":"2021-09-17T23:02:56","slug":"hard-rock-casino-northern-indiana-land-speculation-scheme-leads-to-indictment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/hard-rock-casino-northern-indiana-land-speculation-scheme-leads-to-indictment\/","title":{"rendered":"Hard Rock Casino Northern Indiana Land Speculation Scheme Leads to Indictment"},"content":{"rendered":"

An Indiana man was charged in a federal indictment with mail fraud after a plot surfaced over the improper purchase of properties near the Hard Rock Casino Northern Indiana, prosecutors said. He was allegedly speculating on land purchases before the Gary, Indiana gaming property opened earlier this year.<\/p>\n

\"The
Northern District of Indiana Acting US Attorney Tina L. Nommay, pictured above. She announced the indictment of a man who allegedly speculated on land deals near a Gary casino. He was indicted on mail fraud. (Image: Daily Advent<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sergio Gutierrez, 49, of Hobart was indicted after investigators uncovered the multi-year scheme, according to Northern District of Indiana Acting US Attorney Tina L. Nommay.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The plot ran between 2015 and 2019, she said in a recent statement. It attempted to allegedly defraud the Lake County Auditor\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n

Owed $22K in Property Taxes<\/h2>\n

Gutierrez allegedly defaulted on $22,000 in property taxes, according to the Times of Northwest Indiana<\/em>. The taxes were owed on four of his properties, the report adds. Under the scheme, Gutierrez made the effort to obtain additional acreage, but he could not do so because of overdue property taxes, Nommay said.<\/p>\n

\n

Gutierrez allegedly employed other suspects and used the US mail during the scheme, prosecutors said. Nommay explained those actions violate the federal mail fraud statute.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

On Tuesday, Gutierrez plead not guilty in US District Court in Hammond to mail fraud, the Times<\/em> reported. Gutierrez was released after posting $20,000 bond. US District Court Judge Joshua P. Kolar has scheduled Gutierrez\u2019s trial to start on Nov. 22.<\/p>\n

Prior Casino Case<\/h2>\n

Earlier this month, an Indiana state judge dismissed a lawsuit from Spectacle Entertainment<\/a> shareholders against the Indiana Gaming Commission (IGC). It relates to the continuing ownership controversy over Hard Rock Casino Northern Indiana.<\/p>\n

Marion Superior Court Judge John Chavis issued the order last week after a voluntary request from the Spectacle shareowners to withdraw the court action.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The lawsuit challenged integrity rules for shareholders, according to the Times<\/em>. Gaming regulators require financial and background details on investors of privately held casinos.<\/p>\n

The latest court ruling came after the IGC gave the go-ahead to Spectacle to sell majority control of the casino to Florida-based Hard Rock International. The company is to be a controlling partner in the $300 million gaming property.<\/p>\n

Since January 2020, Spectacle was the target of an IGC investigation that has uncovered several alleged violations of state gaming regulations<\/a>, as well as federal laws. It\u2019s led to one former Spectacle executive facing federal charges for campaign finance violations, and its founder surrendering his gaming license.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An Indiana man was charged in a federal indictment with mail fraud after a plot surfaced over the improper purchase of properties near the Hard Rock Casino Northern Indiana, prosecutors said. He was allegedly speculating on land purchases before the Gary, Indiana gaming property opened earlier this year. Sergio Gutierrez, 49, of Hobart was indicted […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":186140,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHard Rock Casino Northern Indiana Land Speculation Leads to Indictment<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A man was charged with alleged mail fraud. It ties to the improper purchase of properties near the Hard Rock Casino Northern Indiana.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/hard-rock-casino-northern-indiana-land-speculation-scheme-leads-to-indictment\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hard Rock Casino Northern Indiana Land Speculation Leads to Indictment\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A man was charged with alleged mail fraud. It ties to the improper purchase of properties near the Hard Rock Casino Northern Indiana.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/hard-rock-casino-northern-indiana-land-speculation-scheme-leads-to-indictment\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-09-17T22:54:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-09-17T23:02:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/US-Atty.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ed Silverstein\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgedsilv\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ed Silverstein\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/hard-rock-casino-northern-indiana-land-speculation-scheme-leads-to-indictment\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/hard-rock-casino-northern-indiana-land-speculation-scheme-leads-to-indictment\/\",\"name\":\"Hard Rock Casino Northern Indiana Land Speculation Leads to Indictment\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/hard-rock-casino-northern-indiana-land-speculation-scheme-leads-to-indictment\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/hard-rock-casino-northern-indiana-land-speculation-scheme-leads-to-indictment\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/US-Atty.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-09-17T22:54:13+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-09-17T23:02:56+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/b3771b02527bcbda9af984b9b1ff098e\"},\"description\":\"A man was charged with alleged mail fraud. It ties to the improper purchase of properties near the Hard Rock Casino Northern Indiana.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/hard-rock-casino-northern-indiana-land-speculation-scheme-leads-to-indictment\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/hard-rock-casino-northern-indiana-land-speculation-scheme-leads-to-indictment\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/hard-rock-casino-northern-indiana-land-speculation-scheme-leads-to-indictment\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/US-Atty.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/US-Atty.jpg\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":720},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/hard-rock-casino-northern-indiana-land-speculation-scheme-leads-to-indictment\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Hard Rock Casino Northern Indiana Land Speculation Scheme Leads to Indictment\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Casino.org\",\"description\":\"Latest Casino and Gaming News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/b3771b02527bcbda9af984b9b1ff098e\",\"name\":\"Ed Silverstein\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-6-1-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-6-1-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"Ed Silverstein\"},\"description\":\"Ed Silverstein is a senior reporter covering gambling law and crime news for Casino.org. Ed is an award-winning journalist with credits ranging from the Associated Press to American Lawyer Media. Ed joined the Casino.org news team in 2019 after decades of experience in legal reporting. His past reporting and editing assignments include Cowles Business Media, Columbia University Press, the Connecticut Post, and Southern Connecticut Newspapers, Inc. Besides the law and its application to the gaming industry, Ed\u2019s areas of expertise span business, politics, education, and state and local government. Ed holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Connecticut and master\u2019s degrees from Harvard and Yale. His professional awards include recognition from the New England Press Association and New England AP News Executives. Ed currently resides in Connecticut, where he enjoys photography and bowling in his spare time. Contact Ed at ed.silverstein@casino.org.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/muckrack.com\/ed-silverstein\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/casinoorgedsilv\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/ed-silverstein\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Hard Rock Casino Northern Indiana Land Speculation Leads to Indictment","description":"A man was charged with alleged mail fraud. It ties to the improper purchase of properties near the Hard Rock Casino Northern Indiana.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/hard-rock-casino-northern-indiana-land-speculation-scheme-leads-to-indictment\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Hard Rock Casino Northern Indiana Land Speculation Leads to Indictment","og_description":"A man was charged with alleged mail fraud. It ties to the improper purchase of properties near the Hard Rock Casino Northern Indiana.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/hard-rock-casino-northern-indiana-land-speculation-scheme-leads-to-indictment\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2021-09-17T22:54:13+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-09-17T23:02:56+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1280,"height":720,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/US-Atty.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Ed Silverstein","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@casinoorgedsilv","twitter_site":"@Casino_Org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Ed Silverstein","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/hard-rock-casino-northern-indiana-land-speculation-scheme-leads-to-indictment\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/hard-rock-casino-northern-indiana-land-speculation-scheme-leads-to-indictment\/","name":"Hard Rock Casino Northern Indiana Land Speculation Leads to Indictment","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/hard-rock-casino-northern-indiana-land-speculation-scheme-leads-to-indictment\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/hard-rock-casino-northern-indiana-land-speculation-scheme-leads-to-indictment\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/US-Atty.jpg","datePublished":"2021-09-17T22:54:13+00:00","dateModified":"2021-09-17T23:02:56+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/b3771b02527bcbda9af984b9b1ff098e"},"description":"A man was charged with alleged mail fraud. It ties to the improper purchase of properties near the Hard Rock Casino Northern Indiana.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/hard-rock-casino-northern-indiana-land-speculation-scheme-leads-to-indictment\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/hard-rock-casino-northern-indiana-land-speculation-scheme-leads-to-indictment\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/hard-rock-casino-northern-indiana-land-speculation-scheme-leads-to-indictment\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/US-Atty.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/US-Atty.jpg","width":1280,"height":720},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/hard-rock-casino-northern-indiana-land-speculation-scheme-leads-to-indictment\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Hard Rock Casino Northern Indiana Land Speculation Scheme Leads to Indictment"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/","name":"Casino.org","description":"Latest Casino and Gaming News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/b3771b02527bcbda9af984b9b1ff098e","name":"Ed Silverstein","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-6-1-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-6-1-96x96.png","caption":"Ed Silverstein"},"description":"Ed Silverstein is a senior reporter covering gambling law and crime news for Casino.org. Ed is an award-winning journalist with credits ranging from the Associated Press to American Lawyer Media. Ed joined the Casino.org news team in 2019 after decades of experience in legal reporting. His past reporting and editing assignments include Cowles Business Media, Columbia University Press, the Connecticut Post, and Southern Connecticut Newspapers, Inc. Besides the law and its application to the gaming industry, Ed\u2019s areas of expertise span business, politics, education, and state and local government. Ed holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Connecticut and master\u2019s degrees from Harvard and Yale. His professional awards include recognition from the New England Press Association and New England AP News Executives. Ed currently resides in Connecticut, where he enjoys photography and bowling in his spare time. Contact Ed at ed.silverstein@casino.org.","sameAs":["https:\/\/muckrack.com\/ed-silverstein","https:\/\/x.com\/casinoorgedsilv"],"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/ed-silverstein\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186139"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=186139"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186139\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/186140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=186139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=186139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=186139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}