Ex-Hoteliers Charged in $50M Bank Swindle

The other defendants are James Cutler, 51; Howard Zuckerman, 55; and Sanford Freedman, 65. Their home locations weren't immediately available. Through their lawyers, the five deny the charges.

The 33-count indictment, charging tax and bank fraud, alleges the defendants were part of a consortium that schemed to avoid paying their accumulated hotel acquisition debt to the former Chemical Bank (now part of J.P. Morgan Chase Bank) and National Westminster Bank, all of New York.

The indictment also alleges the Hundley-Tollman group collectively and individually owe millions in back taxes to the IRS.

The alleged scheme centered on the investors' convincing the banks European investors would buy their $50 million debt for $7.6 million, a deal that would satisfy the money owed to Chemical and National Westminster banks, the indictment alleges.

The indictment alleges the Hundley-Tollman group cooked its books, hid funds in offshore banks and transferred assets to relatives in a plot to show the banks the individual investors were insolvent and couldn't repay the debt.

In the early 1990s, Orange County real estate records show Hundley and Tollman owned a foundering Days Inn hotel on International Drive in south Orlando and financed the former Little Darlin's Rock 'n Roll Palace on tourist-heavy U.S. 192 near Walt Disney World.

None of the defendants could be reached by GlobeSt.com for comment. Hundley lives in the exclusive Isleworth community in south Orlando, home to numerous sports, entertainment, civic and corporate celebrities. Besides Palm Beach, Tollman has homes in Manhattan and London, according to the indictment.

The indictment alleges Freedman was general counsel to Hundley and Tollman. Cutler was chief financial officer of companies controlled by Hundley and Tollman. Zuckerman was vice president/finance at the various companies.