As with anything legal, I’ll caution you up front to reserve judgment until there’s a really complete picture of what happened (not just a small slice of what allegedly happened), but …
Skybox on Sheffield owner Marc Hamid indicted in $600,000 scheme to defraud the Cubs, state, city & county, US attorney's office announces.
— Dave McKinney (@davemckinney) March 27, 2015
Hamid submitted false royalty statements to the Cubs based on underreported attendance stats between 2008 through 2011, indictment alleges.
— Dave McKinney (@davemckinney) March 27, 2015
He underreported rooftop gross revenues by more than $1.5 million, depriving Cubs of "hundreds of thousands" in royalty payments, feds say.
— Dave McKinney (@davemckinney) March 27, 2015
BREAKING: #Wrigleyville rooftop owner indicted in federal court for fraud. Details coming. http://t.co/baj7Z85CgR #wrigleyfield #Cubs
— Ariel Cheung (@arielfab) March 27, 2015
UPDATE: Feds say Skybox on Sheffield owner R. Marc Hamid ripped off the #Cubs with under-reported revenues http://t.co/HTv4yBBEqt
— Chicago Sun-Times (@Suntimes) March 27, 2015
Hamid owns Skybox on Sheffield, which is one of the rooftops in right field that was sued a couple years ago by a bank for allegedly defaulting on various loans. The books for the rooftops, then, have probably been scrutinized for some time, and the recent tensions with the Cubs probably didn’t help things. If you’re wondering, yes, Skybox on Sheffield is one of the two rooftops currently suing the Cubs in federal court over the right field signage.
For now, it appears that the allegation is that the rooftop underreported revenue from 2008 to 2011, which therefore defrauded various government entities, as well as the Cubs, with whom the rooftops are contractually-obligated to share revenue.
I’ll have more details as they become available on this.