Jeffrey Morris Federal Trial Continued Until April
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The federal trial for Roxby Development head Jeffrey Morris has been continued again, this time into April.
Morris's attorney, Federal Public Defender Brian Kornbrath, filed a motion in January to continue Morris' trial to April 22. That motion was granted by U.S. District Judge John Bailey. The trial had originally been scheduled to begin last November, but Kornbrath requested a continuance to March due to the "voluminous discovery" and "number of material witnesses located outside of the district."
Kornbrath supported the continuance in the most recent filing with the reasoning that the March start date of the trial would conflict with the schedule of potential jurors. He outlined that start date would have extended across Good Friday, Easter and spring break for parents and prospective jurors from the surrounding counties.
"The Court finds that the ends of justice served by granting the continuance outweigh the best interest of the public and the defendant in a speedy trial because the ends of justice require a continuance based on the timing of the trial and potential unavailability of jurors," said Bailey in the scheduling order for the trial.
In the scheduling order, Bailey outlined that the deadline for Morris to accept the plea agreement is March 22. If he does not take the plea deal, a pre-trial conference will be held on April 11. The jury selection and trial will begin on April 22.
Morris, the former owner of the McLure Hotel and Scottish Rite Cathedral, among other properties, faces 28 federal counts, 18 of wire fraud and 10 of tax evasion. The indictment was announced in late September. He was indicted earlier on one count of wire fraud, forcing him to turn over his passport.
Morris is accused of defrauding investors and employees within his company. According to the indictment, Morris received nearly $7 million from approximately 20 investors.
He allegedly used those funds to pay other investors, for personal expenses, to pay debts of a company unrelated to Roxby and to pay for credit card transactions unrelated to Roxby renovations.
Morris also is accused of claiming improvements to the properties that were never made to induce additional investments. He is further charged with withholding taxes from his employees' paychecks but then failing to pay more than $252,000 to the Internal Revenue Service, to include Medicare and social security taxes.