Feds say restaurateur serving sentence hasn’t replied to restitution lawsuit

[Editor’s note: This report was updated at 4:18 p.m. on Jan. 12, 2026, to reflect a reassignment order issued by the U.S. magistrate judge overseeing the case shortly after SBJ’s initial report was posted.]

The U.S. government is seeking an entry of default against former Springfield restaurant owner Michael Felts for failing to respond by the court-ordered deadline, according to a pair of documents filed in federal courts on Jan. 9. Entry of default is an order entered in anticipation of a final judgment, formally recognizing that a party in a case has failed to plead or otherwise defend their side of the matter.

Prosecutors allege Felts still owes the federal taxpayer almost $8.2 million in restitution. The Friday court filings were part of a civil lawsuit filed Sept. 4. Felts is now serving a 24-month sentence on his 2023 plea-agreement conviction for COVID-era Paycheck Protection Program fraud, according to past Springfield Business Journal reporting.

The Jan. 9 court filing by federal prosecutors alleges that prior to his criminal sentencing in December 2024, but after Felts’ 2023 plea agreement, in which he admitted to participating in a wire fraud conspiracy, Felts transferred his ownership of an LLC linked to White River Brewery on historic Commercial Street to his then-wife, Jennifer Obert. The two divorced in March 2025, federal court records show.

As part of Felts’ plea agreement, prosecutors stated in court filings that he agreed to pay some $9.9 million in restitution and that he promised to make no transfer of assets or property for the purpose of evading financial obligations created by the plea agreement. Federal prosecutors allege that by transferring the White River Brewery assets to Obert, “Felts sought to transfer the property to avoid paying his restitution judgment.”

Online Federal Bureau of Prisons records, confirmed by a call to an official with the bureau this morning, show Felts is in custody at a halfway house overseen by a Bureau of Prisons Residential Reentry Management field office based in Kansas City, Kansas.

When reached by SBJ for a brief phone interview with a rough audio connection today, Felts – listed in federal court records as representing himself in the case – challenged the actions of federal prosecutors in the civil lawsuit and said, “I’m not supposed to talk to you anyway,” before ending the call.

SBJ asked for comment today from Ryan Olson, a Springfield-based attorney representing Obert along with WR Brewery Holdings LLC and White River Brewery LLC, but did not receive a response to a call and email by deadline.

Obert is named as a defendant in the Sept. 4 federal lawsuit, along with WR Brewery Holdings and White River Brewery. Court filings show that Obert and the two business ventures “waived service and timely filed an answer on December 30, 2025” but allege that Felts did not do so.

Also today, U.S. Magistrate Judge Jill A. Morris issued an order to reassign the case to a different judge. The new order came following SBJ's publication online of reporting on the request for default against Felt by federal prosecutors.

According to her order, Morris instructed the court clerk to randomly assign the case to an Article II district court judge for all further proceedings, “due to the nature of the pending motion and because all parties have not consented to jurisdiction before me."