Bales, Et Al Say They're Innocent

WRTV has a story on the arraignment of accused real estate defrauders John Bales and attorneys William Spencer and Paul Page in the federal district court of Northern Indiana in South Bend. Not surprisingly, the attorneys for the three men insist that are totally innocent of the charges.

An Indianapolis real estate broker and two associates accused of defrauding the state and a bank appeared in federal court Thursday.

John M. Bales II, 44, the president of Venture Real Estate Services in Indianapolis, his partner and general counsel William E. Spencer, 44, of Carmel, and Indianapolis developer and attorney Paul J. Page, 47, were each indicted Wednesday with one count of conspiracy to defraud, one count of bank fraud, three counts of mail fraud and eight counts of wire fraud.

Page was also charged with one count of making false statements to influence the actions of a bank insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation . . .
Bales' attorney adamantly denied the charges.

"There was no hanky-panky. There were no secret straw buyers. This was all above board," said attorney Larry Mackey. "What John Bales is going to do is demonstrate to the trial jury that no crime was committed."

The indictment points to a lease deal in Elkhart for the Department of Child Services where office space was acquired in a building jointly owned by Page and former Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi.

Brizzi has not been charged in connection with the case, but Page's attorney said he believes federal investigators are really interested in zeroing in on Brizzi.

"It appears that he (Page) just got caught in the middle of some battle going on that is not his," said attorney Bob Hammerle. "It is just ghastly that he has to be informed that he's been indicted, a week before Christmas, just ghastly."

You can take what Mackey, the former Oklahoma City bombing prosecutor who would have you believe that there never was a "John Doe #2" who helped Timothy McVeigh carry out that dastardly deed, with a grain of salt. Mackey also defended the Fishers money manager, Keenan Hauke, who state regulators accused of defrauding investors of his hedge fund out of $7 million. At the beginning of the case, Mackey claimed the accusations against his client were made up by a former disgruntled employee of Hauke's who was trying to lure his clients away from him. He later blamed another hedge fund manager for taking his clients' money without Hauke's knowledge and losing it in a Michigan real estate investment. Mackey dumped Hauke after he ran out of money. As we now know, he has pleaded guilty to the charges, and federal prosecutors are seeking a 17-year prison sentence for him.