PROVIDENCE – Former Twin River Worldwide Holdings Inc. executive Michael Barlow has been indicted on charges of accepting a bribe in his capacity as vice president of operations at Twin River Worldwide Holdings, R.I. Attorney General Peter F. Neronha announced on Tuesday.
Barlow’s charges are part of an indictment from a statewide grand jury of three defendants over an alleged kickback scheme that involved subleases for food court vendors.
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Barlow is alleged to have received payments from Yehuda Amar, a casino vendor, as a reward for securing subleases for multiple food court vendors, as well as business contracts.
The attorney general’s office says that Barlow and Amar purchased several residential and commercial properties in New London, Conn., in 2012. Barlow is said to have incurred $340,000 in debt to Amar through property purchase and renovation and received debt relief from 2012 to 2014, in exchange for an influence on contracts with Twin River.
Barlow is charged with four counts of accepting a bribe, three counts of obtaining property under false pretenses and two counts of casino gaming crimes/ providing false information.
“Twin River Management Group cooperated fully with the R.I. State Police and Attorney General during the investigation and will continue to do so,” said Twin River spokeswoman Patti Doyle. “The one employee involved in this nongaming matter is no longer employed by the company.”
Twin River did not say when Barlow left the company or whether he resigned or was let go. It also did not answer questions as to whether it had altered its contracting practices following the investigation and indictment.
There are numerous alleged elements to the kickback scheme, including the arranging of restaurant tenants to enter into subleases with Amar instead of leasing directly from Twin River, allowing Amar to profit off of leases that he did not already have under contract. Barlow is also alleged to have influenced the purchase a Twin River-branded energy drink produced by a holding of Amar to sell at Twin River, as well as an energy drink under the label New York Minute. The charges claim Barlow purchased a 2.5% interest in both energy drink-producing holdings.
Amar was charged with four counts of bribery, three counts of obtaining property under false pretenses, six counts of failure to file a corporate tax, four counts of filing fraudulent personal income tax return, and one count of failing to file a personal income tax return.
Amar’s business associate, Jill Feldman, was charged with three counts of failure to file a corporate tax return, two counts of filing a fraudulent personal income tax return and one count of failure to file a personal income tax return.
All three defendants are scheduled to be arraigned on Dec. 17.
