As former CEO faces theft charges, the fall of Think Loud, leaves a field of unfulfilled promises Options

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As former CEO faces theft charges, the fall of Think Loud leaves a field of unfulfilled promises

Aimee Ambrose
York Dispatch
Published Nov 20

A decade ago, the enthusiasm for Think Loud and United Fiber and Data's plans for downtown York City was palpable.

City leaders hailed the glimmer of revitalization a decade ago when founding members of the rock band Live — Chad Taylor, Chad Gracey and Patrick Dahlheimer — and business partner Bill Hynes had stepped into the local spotlight as entrepreneurs with their new Think Loud brand of businesses and their key company, United Fiber and Data.

They talked up big investments, creating dozens of new jobs and transformation in the city. The project was so high-profile that it even garnered the support of then-Gov. Tom Corbett.

“Think Loud saw the promise that its involvement in downtown York could bring to revitalizing the community,” the Republican said, adding his imprimatur to a 2014 UFD news release. “This project will serve as a technology hub and bring good paying jobs back to the downtown.”

Properties like 210 York St., once known as the Think Loud building, the former York County Prison along Chestnut Street, and the former Metso Corp. plant along Arch Street would have formed points of a triangle as they factored into grand plans for constructing a thriving tech and entertainment center on the bones of nearby industrial lots.

Some of those plans came to fruition. However, at least of the buildings in that triangle sit vacant — and larger promises of revitalizing downtown York were left unfulfilled.

Theft charges: On Tuesday, Hynes will appear in a York County courtroom for a preliminary hearing on theft charges. Investigators allege Hynes stole $4 million that had been set aside for UFD. Hynes still maintains his innocence.

The work started with the renovation and overhaul of the former Bi-Comp Inc. building at 210 York St. into the group’s new headquarters with the name “Think Loud” on the side. Office space was also built in Allentown.

UFD, backed extensively by late philanthropist Louis Appell Jr., embarked on its purpose to build a data superhighway by installing a 340-mile fiber optic line from New York City to Ashburn, Virginia.

Appell, investigators say, poured at least $60 million into the company through loans and investments from 2012, when UFD was founded, until his death in 2016.

And then…

Almost everything crumbled.

The now-former Think Loud building still stands and is still in use, though the name has been changed under new ownership.

Hynes is still based there. UFD pulled up stakes and left town.

The former Metso plant, owned by Hynes, still sits on the other side of railroad tracks from 210 York. And the old jail, owned by UFD, is still a brick hulk looming over Chestnut Street.

Legal wrangling: Most of the action now takes place in the courts as the main figures in this saga fight in a contentious and convoluted business civil war over who robbed the companies’ future.

The latest battle has Hynes set to go before a district court judge, charged with two felony counts of theft.

Pennsylvania State Police allege the 51-year-old stole nearly $4.4 million from UFD and the Appell family, including funds tied into a state grant, from 2017 through 2019 during his role as CEO.

The preliminary hearing is expected to decide whether evidence is sufficient for a jury to hear if the case goes to trial on the county level.

The charges followed a three-year investigation based on reports made by UFD executives Chris Lodge and Andrew Paxton, as well as Lou Appell III, a board member who succeeded his father.

Paxton and Appell did not respond to requests for comment, nor did Taylor.

Hynes said he couldn’t comment.

'Blurs the lines of fairness:' Selena Sparks, a former chief marketing officer with UFD, criticized the investigation as one-sided since police didn’t interview her, Hynes or Gracey.

“It’s hard to form an unbiased examination of facts when using a version of the story that’s motivated more by corporate interests than the pursuit of justice,” she said. “It blurs the lines of fairness, leaving intentions that seem self-serving rather than impartial.”

Lodge and Paxton went to police in November 2020, one month after UFD and Appell filed a civil suit against Hynes, Taylor and Think Loud that made similar accusations.

The civil suit was settled in August 2022 and was followed by Hynes pleading no contest in an assault, stalking and forgery case involving an ex-girlfriend who was also a UFD employee. His arrest in that case in 2019 led to his resignation from UFD.

A flurry of civil litigation also poured into York County courts during the latter half of last year as those other cases were resolved. The lawsuits, led by Hynes in part, primarily targeted Taylor with allegations of fraud and financial mismanagement.

The state police filed their charges in August, putting allegations back on Hynes.

Series of events: Charging documents centered on five alleged series of events, based on Lodge, Paxton and Appell’s reports.

The big one involved money to secure a state grant during the renovation of the 210 York St. building.

Work started on the project in 2012, led by Kinsley Construction, costing between $14 million and $18 million when all was completed through at least 2018.

The now-white brick structure towers four stories above York Street, overlooking a small weedy field, railroad tracks and the former Metso plant.

Office spaces take up the first two floors, and UFD started out on the second story. The top floors boast a recording studio, fitness equipment, a big hangout area with a bar and temporary apartments.

To help get the building to its current state, Think Loud qualified initially for up to $5 million through the state’s Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program. RACP works as an incentive for developers to have funds for project costs up front and then receive a reimbursement in what Sparks described as a complex program.

“The way the grant agreement was structured changed a few times to meet those new requirements, in addition to ensuring that the company would still be eligible for future state and federal incentives,” said Sparks, who helped oversee Think Loud’s RACP application. “Those who were not intimately involved in that process would not have known that, and as such, leaves space for wild interpretation.”

The 210 York St. renovation was eligible for a 50% match from the grant. The state funds, granted first to the York County Redevelopment Authority, were awarded to Think Loud, UFD and the company formed to own the property, 120 York LLC, in 2014, legal and charging documents show.

A grant agreement was then formed between the companies and the redevelopment authority in 2016. But, the businesses didn’t have the upfront money to take advantage of the grant, police alleged.

Line of credit: Hynes, they said, reached out to Appell III for assistance, and Appell agreed to extend a $5 million line of credit to 120 York for the project. A promissory note was also signed, stating UFD would be the one to repay the amount of whatever came through the RACP grant, charging documents show.

Appell then wired $4.03 million to 120 York through the first half of 2017, and the funds were then paid to Kinsley.

The amount matches the total for expenditures made from December 2016 through September 2017 in a payment request for the first phase of the project, according to state records.

UFD received close to $3.39 million from the reimbursement grant in June 2018, according to evidence Lodge showed police.

The funds were then transferred from UFD to a 120 York LLC bank account. From there, investigators said, most of the RACP money was dispersed into other related company accounts, including Think Loud brands.

The bulk of the money, $2.5 million, went into an account for another related property company, 240 Arch LLC. The name followed the group’s pattern of naming holding companies after property addresses, and 240 Arch St. is the address for the Metso plant.

Before the RACP grant came in, police alleged at least $375,000 was transferred from UFD accounts into other company accounts and to 240 Arch throughout 2017 and early 2018. The money was then paid to Metso and a real estate agency as Hynes worked to purchase the property, according to charging documents.

The sale closed in July 2018, with Hynes paying $2.05 million for the plant, county property records show.

Of that, police alleged Hynes told Appell’s wife, Chandra, during a text conversation a year later in 2019 that Appell let him use $1.7 million of the RACP funds for the purchase.

Chandra Appell had reached out to Hynes then to ask about the status of the RACP funds, and police accused him of claiming the funds hadn’t been released yet.

Appell III later told police that Hynes had asked him for the $1.7 million to buy the Metso property and that he would consider it once the RACP loan was repaid. But Appell said, according to charging documents, he never agreed to changing the terms of the loan.

Appell also said the loan hasn’t been paid back, and he denied he was offered any alternative reimbursement, such as partial ownership of the property.

Plans for data hub: What the charging documents don’t describe is the Metso property apparently factored into potential plans to redevelop that area into a data hub and entertainment complex.

York City officials applied for, though ultimately didn't win, a competitive state Community Revitalization Improvement Zone designation in late 2013. In the process, they included details for several local projects UFD plans for a $40 million data center at the former York County Prison at 319 Chestnut St.

Blanda Nace, the city’s chief opportunity development officer who was involved in that 2013 economic development process, said documents weren’t submitted with the application since when such applications mention plans, they’re more in the context of ideas.

“It was a planned project with no plans,” Nace said.

Members of Think Loud and UFD also often hinted at big money plans for York in articles from those early days.

As work to renovate the Think Loud building started coming to a close, 240 Arch LLC was registered first in January 2017. 319 Chestnut LLC, the holding company for the former prison, was then registered in October 2018, nearly two years later, state business data shows.

While Hynes is held up in articles and charging and court documents as the guy who bought the Metso plant, Andrew Paxton, now UFD’s president and lawyer, is the one who organized 240 Arch, business documents from the Pennsylvania Department of State show.

Another UFD manager is listed as the one who organized 319 Chestnut.

UFD, through the holding company, purchased the vacant prison from the city in November 2018, following a whole other controversy involving eminent domain.

The plan then was to renovate and revamp the crumbling red brick building into the data hub for the company’s fiber optic network. The city even closed York Street in anticipation of coming developments.

The Metso property was apparently intended to be transformed into an entertainment destination, while a substation on the property would have helped power the data hub, according to emails obtained from 240 Arch.

Hynes, in an email to Appell in January 2017, describes his plans to transform the Metso property into a concert venue and a “healthy active lifestyle center” that would include a World Gym, spa amenities and a cryogenic therapy company. Intentions to draw a casino to the site were discussed later.

Appell replied with, “Like it.”

Seeking assistance: Another exchange a year later shows Hynes asking Appell for assistance for the property.

He laid out that he has $325,000 of his cash on deposit and under a deadline to close by the end of the month. Hynes also discussed repayment options, including half his stock in another company, the email shows.

Appell replied by asking how much Hynes needed to close the deal. In his email, Appell warned he’s told people he’s not doing anything further until UFD is self-supporting, but he also didn’t want Hynes to lose his money or the property, the document shows.

Other emails from 240 Arch show Paxton also discussing purchasing the Metso property in 2018.

The communications indicate UFD leaders were aware of and part of the plans for the property. Charging documents, however, seem to suggest 240 Arch was considered a separate project.

Either way, plans for the Metso plant and the former prison never materialized as relationships apparently deteriorated within UFD and Think Loud.

The Metso property is said to have tenants leasing space inside.

Other legal actions: Hynes was charged in the assault case in November 2019, which led to his departure as CEO of UFD. Police said that the case led to the company conducting an internal investigation.

A year later, the civil suit was filed in October 2020. Lodge and Paxton then went to the state police with their allegations that November.

One of the complaints in the civil suit accused Hynes, Taylor, Gracey and Dahlheimer of using 120 York LLC, as the Think Loud building’s owner, to charge UFD above-market rent for a long-term lease there.

The complaint also alleged the size of the second-floor space set up for UFD was more than the company needed, adding to the costs.

At some point, apparently around the time of the suit, UFD left the building in York. The company’s website indicates executives are based in Allentown.

Kinsley Construction also sued 120 York in late 2020 for defaulting on $8.5 million, plus interest, on a $15 million construction loan for the renovation project.

120 York went into bankruptcy protection, and Kinsley eventually won a default judgment and took ownership of the building.

The issue was eventually resolved in late 2021 when Kinsley sold the building to Invictus One, a company that other litigation alleged was formed by two men affiliated with Hynes.

And that’s where things stand now: The once-Think Loud building under new ownership with another company leasing the space UFD once occupied. Hynes remains based there while owning the empty Metso plant outside his windows. UFD operates apparently outside York while still owning the former prison.

That’s just one story from the list of charges and allegations the state police filed.

Othe ventures: They also said Hynes used $275,000 in company funds to buy into and race at Stadium Super Trucks events through Indianapolis Motor Sports Productions. Hynes’ racing, according to the allegations, was considered his pastime and not approved by the company.

Lodge, in charging documents, alleged that Hynes bypassed entry fees by instead paying for racing TV production costs. Police said he took details out of invoices, changing them to show just “TV production,” allegedly as an indication the money for each event was used for UFD marketing.

In another situation, police alleged Hynes had an affiliated company, YRK LLC, which produced YRK Magazine, invoice UFD to the tune of $179,490 in July 2019. The bill was purportedly for a project by YRK to develop a new app that was never made, according to details in charging documents.

Lodge and Paxton, however, told police that Hynes spent about $180,000 on personal expenses using his UFD business credit card.

“When Hynes was asked by UFD board members as to what the money was spent on, he related that it was for software development related to YRK Magazine,” police state in charging documents.

Investigators then detailed a series of transfers from a UFD bank account to pay credit cards in Hynes’ name, as well as a later move where police said UFD funds cycled through two of Hynes’ accounts and back to UFD. They accused Hynes of making the transfers look like he was paying the company back with his own money.

The amounts of the transfers added up to match the amount on the YRK invoice.

Another allegation covered the transfer of a $50,000 certificate of deposit from a closed American Express account. The money went into a UFD bank account and then into one of Hynes’ personal accounts, police said.

Charging documents note Hynes repaid the money when the company asked about it.

'Skin in the game': The final set of allegations started with Appell III telling police he told Hynes he needed to put “skin in the game” when he asked for another loan to help support the company in 2019.

Appell told police he challenged Hynes to front a $500,000 loan to UFD, and that he would match the amount with a similar loan.

Police alleged Hynes turned to a trust and asked for a $500,000 loan to meet Appell’s challenge. When he got the money, Hynes transferred it to a UFD account as police alleged he set it up to look like he made a personal loan, according to charging documents.

Appell then matched the amount. Police alleged there’s no indication either loan was repaid.

Investigators spoke to Paxton, Lodge and Appell, along with Chief Financial Officer Doug Schultz, as UFD representatives, similar to the 2020 civil suit. A bookkeeper and an IT contractor were also interviewed.

Police also spoke to Taylor and Dahlheimer, charging documents show. They’re shown in other current lawsuits as on opposite sides of Hynes and Gracey.

The charging documents don’t indicate whether investigators reached out to also speak to Hynes, Gracey or Sparks.

Gracey and Sparks both said they were never contacted.

“It's deeply troubling that, despite having potentially vital information, the police neglected to interview crucial witnesses like myself. This raises serious concerns about the integrity of the entire process, potentially influencing the investigation,” Gracey said in a statement. “It's essential that justice be served impartially and without any undue influence.”

Hynes’ preliminary hearing is scheduled to be held in District Judge Thomas Harteis’ court.

— Reach Aimee Ambrose at aambrose@yorkdispatch.com or on Twitter at @aimee_TYD.

https://www.yorkdispatch.com/story/news/loc...of/71610530007/

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New details emerge about loan at the heart of Bill Hynes theft case
Aimee Ambrose
York Dispatch
Published Nov 23, 2023


The son of late business leader and philanthropist Louis Appell Jr. asserted he settled a civil lawsuit under duress to keep United Fiber and Data from folding.

Louis Appell III testified Tuesday the company couldn’t get new customers or investors while the case was fought in court from 2020 to 2022, and money was drying up — forcing its hand.

“The company would fold if we didn’t,” he said, estimating that UFD’s current gross revenue is $3 million.

Appell was called as a witness for the preliminary district court hearing in a criminal case charging UFD co-founder and former CEO Bill Hynes with theft.

Pennsylvania State Police, following a three-year investigation, allege he stole nearly $4.4 million while he ran the company.

The bulk of that amount involved accusations that Hynes didn’t repay a loan he sought from Appell, as an heir to his father’s estate and a top investor in UFD, to secure a state grant.

Hynes said he couldn't comment on the case currently.

"The hearing is still in process, and out of respect for the court and the judiciary process, I will not comment at this time," he said.

Five-hour hearing: Preliminary hearings in criminal cases are intended to provide a first look at cases, with district judges deciding whether the evidence is sufficient for cases to go to trial on the county level. But Tuesday's hearing ran approximately five hours in Judge Thomas Harteis’ courtroom.

Harteis ultimately put the case on recess late in the afternoon. Prosecutors indicated they plan to call two more witnesses when the hearing resumes in December.

The case charges Hynes, 51, with two felony counts of theft by deception and theft by failing to make the required fund dispositions.

State police investigators laid out five points of alleged thefts in charging documents, detailing situations from 2017 through 2019. The timeline covered a period where Hynes was CEO of UFD under a new operating agreement until he resigned while charged in a separate assault case.

Current UFD executives reported the accusations to state police in 2020, shortly after the company and board member Appell sued Hynes and Think Loud in the civil case. The complaints in both cases are similar.

The civil suit was settled last year. The criminal case came this August.

The loan: Appell’s loan hits the heart of the allegations. Investigators said Hynes violated an agreement by using money to buy another property instead of repaying Appell.

That other property was a key piece of larger plans to grow UFD, Hynes’ attorneys pointed out during questioning.

Hynes reached out to Appell for assistance in getting enough cash upfront to secure a state Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program grant. The funds were sought as part of the project to renovate the building at 210 York St. to serve as the headquarters for UFD and the related Think Loud family of companies, according to charging documents.

“He needed someone to put money up front in order to get the funding,” Appell testified.

The project was eligible for a 50% reimbursement from the grant after conditions were met.

Appell, police said, agreed to a line of credit of $5 million under a promissory note. He said he ended up extending about $4 million — police put the figure at $4.03 million — over several months in 2017 for the construction costs.

The money at first went to 120 York LLC, the holding company Think Loud set up to own the building, and then he testified he shifted where he sent the funds after Hynes asked him to.

“I made one payment to 120 York. The rest went to UFD,” Appell said.

That detail seemed to be in dispute at the hearing.

The renovation project totaled between $14 million and $18 million when it was completed.

RACP payment: In June 2018, UFD received a payment of nearly $3.39 million in RACP money.

Terms of the promissory note called for the company to pay Appell back the amount received from RACP within 15 days.

Appell, as part of the allegations, said Hynes lied to him for about a year, saying the company hadn’t received the funds yet.

“Have you received money back for a RACP reimbursement?” First Assistant District Attorney Tim Barker asked.

Appell replied: “No.”

Where the money went: Police alleged Hynes instead dispersed the RACP money into Think Loud and related corporate accounts.

Most of it, $2.5 million, went into the account for another property holding company, 240 Arch LLC. The name reflects the address for the former Metso Minerals plant along Arch Street, which sits across a field from 210 York St., what used to be called the Think Loud building.

State documents show UFD executive Andrew Paxton registered 240 Arch LLC with the Pennsylvania Department of State in 2017.

The company then purchased the Metso property in July 2018 for a little more than $2 million.

UFD also purchased the former York County Prison at 319 Chestnut St. in late 2018. This created a triangle of properties with the former Metso Plant, the old jail and the Think Loud building at each point.

Plans called for redeveloping that area into a tech and entertainment campus: The jail would become a data hub, and documents from 240 Arch outlined plans to turn the Metso property into a complex with a gym, spa and possibly a casino.

Appell admitted he was aware of the plans for the area, and that he told Hynes in a 2017 email that he liked one of the options.

But he insisted the plans weren’t related to UFD.

“It has nothing to do with UFD,” Appell testified. “UFD had no interest in it.”

He told Hynes’ attorneys he wasn’t aware that Paxton was involved in closing on the sale. They also asked if he knew Paxton had an ownership interest in the Metso property.

But, before the purchase, Appell said Hynes had talked to him about another loan to get funds in place for the Metso sale. He said he'd consider it — after he was repaid for the loan for the RACP grant.

He said didn’t agree to providing funds for Metso, and he didn’t authorize the decision to move the RACP funds into 240 Arch’s account since he didn’t know about the sale until a friend mentioned it to him later.

Appell alleged in charging documents he wasn’t presented with any alternative reimbursement options. Documents from 240 Arch indicated Hynes offered him alternatives.

Questioning: Hynes’ attorneys suggested the RACP grant UFD received wasn’t the full amount the company expected to receive as they questioned Appell on his allegation that Hynes deceived him about not getting the money.

Attorney Gavin Lentz asked Appell if he was aware the state had upped the 210 York St. project’s reimbursement eligibility by an additional $2 million to bring the total to $7 million, and that an RACP application was made for renovating the former prison site.

Appell said he wasn’t aware of those.

There’s no indication the state reimbursed more than that initial $3.39 million. Lentz indicated the jail RACP ended up falling through.

More allegations: Of the other allegations detailed in charging documents, police said Hynes used $275,000 in company funds to buy into and race at Stadium Super Trucks events through Indianapolis Motor Sports Productions. Hynes’ racing, according to investigators, was considered a personal pastime not approved by the company.

Hynes, they alleged, bypassed racing entry fees by paying for the events’ TV production costs.

Police said he then removed details from invoices to show simply “TV production,” allegedly as an indication the money for each event was used for UFD marketing.

Separately, police alleged Hynes had an affiliated company — YRK LLC, which produced YRK Magazine — charge UFD $179,490 in July 2019 to develop a new app that was never made, charging documents show.

Instead, investigators allege the invoice was created to cover a series of bank transfers from UFD where money paid off credit cards in Hynes’ name.

Company executives alleged to police that Hynes spent about $180,000 on personal expenses using his UFD business credit card. The amounts of the transfers matched the amount on the YRK invoice, according to charging documents.

Another allegation concerned the transfer of a $50,000 certificate of deposit from a closed American Express account. The money went into a UFD bank account and then into one of Hynes’ personal accounts, police said.

Charging documents note Hynes repaid the money when the company asked about it.

Trust: The final point in the charging documents involved allegations that Hynes borrowed $500,000 from a trust after Appell challenged him to put more of his own money into UFD in 2019.

Police alleged that when Hynes got the money, he transferred it to UFD but made it look like the money came from him personally, court records show.

Appell then matched the amount, police said. Appell testified he believed he doubled the match and loaned $1 million. That point also seemed in dispute. Investigators alleged there’s no indication either loan was repaid.

All told, Appell estimated that he invested $40 million overall into UFD. In charging documents, he told police his family invested or loaned more than $60 million into the company.

Appell’s wife, Chandra, and a UFD bookkeeper also testified during Tuesday’s hearing before it recessed.

The hearing will resume Dec. 19.

— Reach Aimee Ambrose at aambrose@yorkdispatch.com or on Twitter at @aimee_TYD.

https://www.yorkdispatch.com/story/news/loc...se/71666752007/

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Louis Appell III, others testify against Bill Hynes at hearing on alleged $4M UFD theft
Mike Argento
York Daily Record

Louis J. Appell III just wanted to see the job his father began through.

That job was investing in a fiber optic line built by a company started by the members of the rock band Live under the aegis of United Fiber & Data. He described the family's involvement in the company in testimony during a preliminary hearing Tuesday for former UFD CEO Bill Hynes, accused of stealing more than $4 million from the company he ran to maintain a lavish lifestyle and support his interest in something called “Stadium Super Truck” racing.

In 2012, Appell’s father, Louis J. Appell Jr., revered as a man whose investments and philanthropy shaped this corner of the world, joined with the members of the homegrown rock band Live to launch a company to build a 340-mile fiber optic line from New York to Ashburn, in the northern Virginia suburbs of D.C.

The project was touted as an economic bonanza, promising to create 300 jobs in York and generate billions in tax revenue while building a high-tech center in York, creating a kind of Silicon Valley centered in a formerly blighted neighborhood in the city’s heart.

Appell Jr. initially invested $7 million in the new company, launched during a lavish press conference in 2012. Between 2013 and 2016, according to court documents, Appell Jr. pumped an additional $19.25 million into the company.

In March 2016, the Appell family was considering putting more money into the company, which, to that date, had not returned on the investment. They decided to invest more money into the business.

When Appell Jr. died on June 27, 2016, his son, Appell III and his daughter, Helen, met with Hynes, who presented the case for putting more money into the business, and decided to put in another $10 million.

Appell III testified that Hynes told them the fiber optic line would be built in nine months and cost another $24 million, though he said he could probably do it for $22 million.

The project foundered. “We found out around the end of that year that no progress had been made,” Appell III testified during the five-hour hearing. “They were still trying to cross the Hudson River, and there were issues in Weehawken” in northern New Jersey.

Completion of the line was always three months away, Appell III said. And Hynes kept asking Appell III for more money. He kept investing in UFD. He estimated that the family has put $40 million into the company.

At one point, UFD needed some up-front money to qualify for a state grant under the Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program – known by its acronym RACP. The program, intended to invest in blighted neighborhoods in which traditional investment was not available, would reimburse investors who put money into projects that otherwise would not qualify for funding.

UFD, under Live’s Think Loud umbrella of limited-liability corporations, was looking to renovate its headquarters on York Street, in an old industrial building on the edge of a blighted city neighborhood. Appell III said Hynes asked him to put up the $5 million for the project, under a promissory note, promising to pay the money back with interest once the state reimbursed UFD for the project.

Appell III paid the bills from the local construction giant Kinsley as the work was being done. Once it was finished, he waited for the reimbursement from UFD.

Months passed. Appell III testified that he would occasionally ask Hynes what was going on with the RACP money and he would say nothing.

It wasn’t until later, November 2019, after Hynes left UFD when he was facing charges brought by a former girlfriend who accused him of stalking and abusing her, that Appell III testified he learned a stunning truth. On June 7, 2018, the York County Redevelopment Authority forwarded a check for $3,388,027 to UFD, the memo indicating that it was the RACP funds from the state.

Later, UFD accountant Vicki Goodling testified that after the RACP check had been deposited, bank statements showed that more than a million of it had been moved to a little-used Think Loud account that, before the deposit, had a balance of $570.13.

Hynes, she said, had authority to make the transfer, as he did with all of the business accounts. Money was moved from account to account, including some going into BKS Investments and into personal accounts held by Hynes. Goodling said she was “not sure what (BKS Investments) was.” She also said, “I have never seen anything quite like it before.”

During Goodling's testimony, the accountant reviewed two sets of invoices from a television production company - one set indicating expenses paid on behalf of UDF and others showing that the payments were made to support “Stadium Super Truck” racing. The invoices, she testified, were identical, down to dates and invoice numbers, but showed different expenses. She testified that the expenses were for a TV commercial for UDF, and that Hynes told her the commercial had been produced but that “it wasn’t good.”

Meanwhile, Appell III testified, Hynes never told him the RACP money had arrived. Hynes' attorneys asserted that the money was only one of several grants from the state, suggesting that the payment due to Appell III hadn’t been approved by the state, that his reimbursement had been held up by bureaucratic red tape.

Appell III, as well as prosecutors and investigators, allege otherwise. “I didn’t know about it,” Appell III said. “That’s the whole issue.”

Appell III testified that Hynes, at the time, was trying to acquire the former Metso property, across the railroad tracks from Think Loud's York Street headquarters, and asked Appell III for money to close the deal. Appell III said he’d think about it once he got reimbursed from RACP. Hynes had put a $400,000 deposit on the Metso property – intending to develop it into a retail, entertainment and residential property – and needed the money to close the deal.

Appell III testified he hadn’t agreed to that and that he wouldn’t consider it until he was reimbursed for his approximately $4 million investment into the Think Loud building. He discussed the matter with his wife, Chandra, a former prosecutor, saying he was tired of dealing with Hynes and asked her to handle it.

Chandra Appell testified that she texted Hynes but was not satisfied with his answers, replying to his initial response that she and her husband “need something more than that.”

Chandra Appell testified, “We felt we were getting the runaround from the defendant. He wasn’t being candid.”

Appell III testified he didn’t receive any reimbursement until after Hynes left the company when he was charged in the domestic case. (Hynes made a plea deal in that case and had been sentenced to house arrest. He denies the charges.)

That’s the crux of the case against Hynes, facing felony charges of theft by failure to make required disposition of funds and theft by deception by false impressions. Hynes has denied the charges, believing that the accusations had been amicably settled in July 2022 when a civil lawsuit in the matter was resolved, and that he has “significant exonerating evidence” that will clear him of the charges.

His lawyers cited a civil matter that was settled in August 2022. According to a statement, UFD and Appell III confirmed “all outstanding claims against Mr. Hynes and his related entity have been mutually, fully and fairly settled, including all allegations of fraud, theft of funds and related allegations of wrongdoing.”

One of Hynes' lawyers, Gavin Lentz, argued that the charges against Hynes were of a civil nature and that since it was settled, Hynes should not be sitting in the defendant’s chair in the small courtroom in District Magisterial Judge Thomas Harteis’ office. At one point, Lentz suggested Appell III was accusing Hynes of the crimes alleged by the state.

Prosecutor Tim Barker argued the civil matter does not preclude the filing of criminal charges. As an example, he said, a settlement by an insurance company in a fatal car wreck does not prevent the filing of vehicular homicide charges. He also said Appell III was not making the criminal accusation, the state of Pennsylvania was.

Appell III testified he agreed to the settlement “under duress.”

“I didn’t get a dime from it,” Appell III testified. “I had to sign the settlement. The company would fold if we didn’t.”

Appell III testified that UFD is still operating and generating about $3 million a year in gross revenues. He said he believed he would never recoup his investment in the company. (The company has also generated a flurry of lawsuits containing accusations and counter-accusations over finances.)

After five hours of testimony, the hearing was adjourned. It will resume on Dec. 19.

Columnist/reporter Mike Argento has been a York Daily Record staffer since 1982. Reach him at mike@ydr.com.

https://www.ydr.com/story/news/local/2023/1...ve/71675157007/