[Article] Bill Hynes charged with stealing $4.39 million from UFD, York Daiy Record Options

[PillarofDavidson99]

More charges were filed. Maybe this is why it was taken down.

https://www.ydr.com/story/news/local/2023/0...so/70644633007/

[Edit dangum: thread split from #37 Chad Taylor Sold the Drama, We want a Refund!, feat. Chad Gracey and Bill Hynes

This post has been edited by dangum: Aug 22 2023, 5:46 am

[dangum]

https://www.yorkdispatch.com/story/news/loc...ll/70644220007/

New charges filed against Bill Hynes say he stole millions from UFD, Appell
Aimee Ambrose
York Dispatch



Entrepreneur and developer Bill Hynes faces new criminal charges from a lengthy investigation alleging he stole millions from the company he helped found and the philanthropist who invested in it.

The new case, nearly three years in the making, weaves into a host of legal fighting involving Hynes, his businesses, partners and investors from the past several years.

The 51-year-old is charged with a felony count of theft by failing to make required disposition of funds and another count of theft by deception following a Pennsylvania State Police investigation.

The charges were filed Wednesday. Hynes underwent a preliminary arraignment Monday morning before District Judge Thomas Harteis. His bail was set at $25,000, according to court documents.

State police allege Hynes took or misused nearly $4.4 million in funds at United Fiber and Data from 2017-2019.

This came while he headed the company, which he helped found with three founding members of alt-rock band Live — Chad Taylor, Patrick Dahlheimer and Chad Gracey. The four also started the Think Loud family of businesses that UFD was tied to.

“I am shocked and outraged by these charges. These matters were amicably resolved in July of 2022,” Hynes told The York Dispatch on Monday afternoon. “My legal team is already in possession of significant exonerating evidence, and I look forward to my day in court.”

The resolution Hynes referenced came from a settlement of a civil lawsuit which, when filed in 2020, included allegations similar to those brought by police last week.

The investigation focused primarily on five situations from accusations reported by UFD CEO Chris Lodge and company president Andrew Paxton in November 2020 — the report came one month after the civil suit was filed.

The most significant involved nearly $3.4 million in state funds from the Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program. The funds supported the renovation of the building at 210 York St. to serve as Think Loud and UFD’s headquarters in the mid-2010s.



Police alleged Hynes couldn’t secure bank funding the companies needed to have up front for the project in order to qualify for reimbursement under the grant program. So, he reached out to Louis Appell III, the son of late local philanthropist and primary UFD backer Louis Appell Jr., for assistance, according to charging documents.

Appell opened a $5 million line of credit for the building renovation under a promissory note that required repayment within about two weeks of any RACP reimbursement, police said in the charging documents.

UFD received nearly $3.4 million in RACP funds through the York County Redevelopment Authority in June 2018.

Police alleged that right away, Hynes transferred most of the amount from one business account to several related business accounts. They included two Think Loud entities and a holding company set up to own an industrial site at 240 Arch St. — the location roughly neighbors 210 York St. in an area where early UFD plans called for developing a tech campus.

During an interview with investigators in late 2021, Appell alleged he hadn’t been reimbursed on his promissory note, charging documents show.

The case also alleged that Hynes:

• Spent $275,000 in UFD money on stadium super truck racing expenses;
• Funneled $179,490 in UFD money through a related company, YRK Magazine, to pay off personal credit card bills under the guise that the funds were for software development at the magazine;
• Stole and later returned $50,000 related to a certificate of deposit from a corporate account;
• And redirected a $500,000 loan from a trust to allegedly create the appearance he was putting up his own funds to match more funding he sought from the Appell family.
• The charging documents filed by the state police go further into detail on each point in the list of allegations from the investigation.

The criminal case comes one year after Hynes settled a civil lawsuit with Appell III and UFD in August 2022. The suit, which was filed in 2020, made similar allegations of theft, fraud and misuse of funds.

This also marks the second criminal case against Hynes in York County.

He pleaded no contest to counts of simple assault, stalking, trespassing and forgery in September 2022, a month after the settlement, after his ex-girlfriend, a former UFD employee, made abuse allegations in 2019.

He was sentenced to three years of probation. That included six months of home detention and electronic monitoring, which he did from 210 York St. where he still has an office and apparently leased living space in an upper floor.

Years earlier, Hynes was also convicted of theft in 2010 related to business transactions in Northampton County.

And as the state police conducted the investigation, Hynes also became a central figure in several civil lawsuits since last November against Taylor and Dahlheimer.

Those lawsuits largely target Taylor with allegations of fraud and misuse of funds, while another is a fight over property involving Invictus One, the company that now owns 210 York St.

UFD no longer operates out of the 210 York St. facility. The space the company originally occupied was leased to student loan company, CampusDoor, in late 2021, shortly after Invictus One acquired the building.

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