More than a Game

If a federal prosecutor can demonstrate to a jury that a former video game developer and Christian County reserve-deputy sheriff bilked investors for $14.5 million, the entrepreneur and law enforcer could spend the rest of his life behind bars.

Marty Brickey’s defense team is laying out its arguments, and time will tell whether the Republic-based businessman will escape an enclosing legal Venus’ flytrap equal to any gaming obstacles his imagination could dream up.

The 44-year-old deputy faces up to 360 years in prison and fines of up to $7.5 million following a 30-count superseding indictment delivered in May in a case that stretches across five companies and five continents.

U.S. District Judge David Rush set a trial date of Sept. 21 at the U.S. federal court in Springfield for Brickey’s alleged fraudulent business practices, and U.S. Attorney Steven Mohlhenrich is prosecuting the case investigated by the IRS-Criminal Investigation unit and the FBI.

Following a round of charges levied in June 2014 – three counts of wire fraud and six counts of money laundering – Brickey is now up against 10 counts of wire fraud, 13 counts of money laundering and seven counts of failure to pay employment taxes.

The U.S. Department of Justice alleges Brickey’s scheme operated for six years until January 2014. Brickey allegedly told investors their money would be used to bring a video game to market and they would share in the profits. The indictment alleges Brickey made false statements to potential investors regarding funds raised and how close his businesses were to producing a marketable product.

In addition, one of his companies, Interzone, allegedly failed to pay nearly $103,000 in payroll taxes between April 2009 and June 2010.

However, attorneys representing Brickey now say while the defendant’s companies didn’t meet investors’ expected returns, there was no scheme in place and Brickey lost money, too.

Brickey’s connection to former Christian County Sheriff Joey Kyle has been noted by federal investigators: He contributed to one of Kyle’s campaigns, and the embattled sheriff pledged money to one of the reserve deputy’s companies.

Well ahead of the trial, Brickey’s attorneys, Thomas Carver and Shane Cantin of Springfield firm Carver, Cantin & Grantham LLC, released a 27-page document outlining evidence they say exonerates their client.

Kyle, who resigned in May after pleading guilty to embezzling county funds and laundering the proceeds of a political supporter’s investment fraud scheme, was a friend who owed Brickey tens of thousands of dollars, according to Brickey’s attorneys. Kyle was not a co-conspirator or a victim, they said.

Widespread operations
According to the indictment, Brickey owned and operated several companies that marketed, promoted and managed software development.

Interzone Entertainment LLC was among them with offices in Springfield, Chicago, Australia, Brazil and China before it ceased operations in February 2010. Big Collision Games LLC operated in Texas and in Dublin, Ireland, according to the Department of Justice. MasterTitle Games Inc. and Spectacle Games were set up in Austin, Texas, and Brickey also owned Zoonik USA Inc. and Studio Avenue Inc.

According to the indictment, Brickey told potential investors he was working with or near receiving investments from a variety of celebrities – Shaquille O’Neal, Kanye West, Kim Kardashian and the Sheik of Abu Dhabi. Several corporate entities also were reportedly on board.

In reality, according to the indictment, Brickey utilized much of the investors’ funds to pay personal expenses unrelated to the development and marketing of any video game, and to repay prior investors who wanted their money back. According to the charges, none of his companies brought a game to market, and the total revenue of his companies during the time period in question was less than $2,300.

“Mr. Brickey is not guilty of any of the government allegations, and we look forward to our time in court to let a jury decide this case,” Shane Cantin said in an Aug. 4 email, declining an interview request on behalf of his client.

The defense argues Brickey is a victim of circumstances – a failed businessman, but no crook.

According to the defense team, Interzone expanded operations to Brazil, Australia and China, and administrative offices in the U.S. and Dublin, Ireland, after a multimillion-dollar sale of a couple of his businesses.

“These operations are all easily verified through employee contracts, payroll reports, government records and independent news reports in each of these countries,” in the provided, informal response to allegations.

Brickey’s attorneys also say their client raised several million dollars in the U.S. for Interzone under the scrutiny of multiple law firms, accountants and its board of directors, and the management of funds was in compliance with those contracts.

Employee pushback
But not all former employees say Brickey’s business practices were aboveboard.

Tim Calwell, a former employee from Australia, set up Interzowned.com to document those impacted by the fall of Interzone operations there. The site – now static because its creators say it’s been hacked – shows pictures of Brickey in Times Square, a vice president in Egypt in front of the Sphinx and a video of employees questioning an executive shutting down the Interzone operations in Perth, Australia.

According to the site, between 2009 and 2010, “Interzone Entertainment shut down its game development studios in Australia, China and Brazil, leaving behind millions of dollars in unpaid debts and hundreds of broken promises.”

The site said company officials rebranded the game “Interzone Futebol” as “Online Soccer Champions” in the hopes to launch again, though they hadn’t paid their employees in Australia for their work to develop that game.

Calwell did not respond to an interview request by press time.

According to Brickey’s attorneys: “Interzone, like many large projects with massive scope and complexity, ran into major time and cost overruns. However, Interzone Futebol reached a point where it was launched into closed beta in various markets of the world and had a soft commercial launch in Brazil,” adding technical problems stalled a game launch in Europe. “The primary engineering studio that was located in Perth, Australia, worked diligently to address the issues and ready the game for commercial launch, but when a major round of institutional funding fell through, the company simply ran out of funds and had to cease operations.”

Among the indictment allegations disputed, Brickey’s attorneys said they did bring a game to market: Pocket Starships, which is still commercially available. PocketStarships.com offers the game through Google Play and the App Store.

As for the former sheriff, the attorneys said Brickey became friends with Kyle and donated money to his first campaign because he supported his positions. That support, they said, led to Kyle asking Brickey for multiple loans, and Brickey obliged when he could.

Kyle was issued 50,000 shares of stock in MasterTitle, but that was rescinded when the former sheriff never followed through on his personal pledge.

“Joey Kyle owes Mr. Brickey tens of thousands of dollars in personal and business loans and the notion of him losing anything in MasterTitle is ridiculous,” the attorneys said.

Jurors pick up the gaming story beginning 9 a.m. Sept. 21.