PEORIA The former owners of the Hotel Pere Marquette were indicted this week on charges of money laundering and mail fraud.
A 26-page indictment, returned late Tuesday, accuses Gary Matthews and Monte Brannan of diverting $750,000 of hotel funds to themselves after the hotel went into foreclosure. They are accused of taking approximately $1.6 million away from the hotel s bank accounts and putting it into their own.
The charges allege the two men caused $13.8 million to be moved from a hotel management account into an account they controlled.
The project has become an albatross around City Hall s neck after the project was foreclosed upon, leaving taxpayers on the hook for between $7 to $8 million.