The former executive at the Twin River Casino, Micahel Barlow, has been mentioned as one of the three defendants in a Rhode Island indictment scheduled soon. The three are facing relatively similar charges, with more than 30 felony counts.
In a statement by Rhode Island Attorney General, Peter Neronha, he alleged that Barlow used his influence as vice president at the casino to stage a kickback scheme with one of the casino operators, Yehuda Amar.
Barlow was appointed as the vice president of food and beverage at the Twin River Casino in Lincoln in 2006 before being promoted in 2015. Amar is a successful and popular name in the real estate industry in Connecticut and Rhode Island.
Neronha said that the crimes mentioned in the indictment, harm both the business climate and those doing business legitimately. This is because the crimes create an unfair competing ground for the businesses. Twin River is the only casino operator who has been licensed in Rhode Island.
It also runs Twin River casino in Lincoln and the Tiverton Casino Hotel. According to one casino.org news article the gaming operator came out saying that it is helping with the investigation. Besides, Barlow is no longer an employee of the company and that they authorities should consider that to stop pressuring the business or holding it with a wrong perspective.
In the kick back deal, Barlow would use his position to get cheap leases at the casino food court. Amar would then receive the cheap leases and in turn sublease them to a third party at a higher price. For all parties to gain in the deal, Barlow would be relieved off debts incurred from real estate reserves he allegedly made with Amar.
This was so long as the properties were located Connecticut’s New London, With the buying and make over of the properties, Barlow had a total investment share of $340,000, which was quite an amount, contrary to what most people thought.
Amar is faced with 21 counts including bribery, failure to file both business and personal income tax returns and use of a false identity to obtain property. His business associate, Jill Feldman, also faces 6 counts all relating to tax offences. On the other hand, Barlow s faced with 12 counts including taking bribes, gaming crimes and use of false identity to obtain properties.
What is more surprising is that the scheme would still be going on was it not for the gaming regulators. They smelt foul play when they came looking into the personal finances of Barlow before they could renew his gaming license. A closer look into his finances and they discovered a link to Amar, which led the regulators to probe further.
Neronha’s office intervened and the charges followed. This is the second scandal in the gaming industry of Rhode Island, after a governor granted International Game Technology a 20-year contract worth $ 1 billion to be in-charge of the state’s lottery.
