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Factual Basis Statement for John Butler and BMI Concessions, L.L.C
Plea Agreements
CIAM (Central Illinois Arena Management) is an Illinois corporation
owned, managed and operated by John Butler. CIAM was responsible for
management of the Coliseum in Bloomington between 2006 and March of 2016,
While managing the Coliseum, John Butler formed BMI Concessions, L.L.C. BMI
Concessions was the entity responsible for the management, operation and sales of
concessions items within the Coliseum. John Butler held the position as President
of BMI Concessions during the time period of January, 2013 through March, 2016.
The day-to-day operations of BMI Concessions consisted of reconciling the
concession finances after each event that occurred within the Coliseum: being
concerts, sporting events, charity events, and the like. Part of the reconciliation and
accounting process involved the use of a MICROS point of sale system involving
computerized cash registers, specialized software, and Excel spreadsheets. The
spreadsheets would be completed to reflect the types and amounts of concessions
sales, ticket sales, and the like. Jay Laesch, as the Finance Director of BMI
Concessions, was responsible for populating the fields in what is known as the
“Settlement Workbook” that contained all of the specific information regarding the
income, expenditures, and amounts owed for BMI Concessions.
The MICROS point of sale system was not the only method BMI used when
selling concessions at the Coliseum. During each event, portable push carts and
portable stands were utilized for cash sales for beer. The carts and stands did not
have a point of sale system leaving all of the cash to be logged and counted by
hand. To effectuate the process of counting and cataloging the cash transactions
from the portable carts and stands, the cash from those carts and stands would be
sent to the vault where it was counted and prepared for deposit by workers in the
vault. The amount of cash sales was then added into the Settlement Workbooks to
show that income as commissionable sales. Over a course of time from January 4,
2013 through March 29, 2016, the State would present evidence that John Butler
commanded Jay Laesch and Paul Grazar, the General Manager of BMI
Concessions, to remove varying amounts of cash from the vault prior to the bank
deposit occurring. The cash that was removed was utilized to pay obligations
incurred by BMI Concessions such as paying performers and paying employees of
Page 1of2 BMI Concessions. The removal of cash occurred on a continual basis during
almost every event held within the U.S. Cellular Coliseum from 2013 through
CIAM and BMI’s departure from the facility in 2016. As part of the scheme,
Laesch would then reduce the amount on the bank deposit sheets and then enter
information into the settlement workbook which intentionally did not reflect all of
the income received. As an example, if he removed $2,000 in cash, he would
reduce the amount on the bank deposit sheet and the amount cash sales in the
MICROS system by $2,000 so that the numbers matched.
The City of Bloomington was entitled to commissions based on those sales
at the standard rates. As the cash that was routinely removed from the vault was
never reported in the MICROS Point of Sale system or the settlement workbooks,
commissions on those sales were never paid to the City of Bloomington. However,
Jay Laesch did not change the handwritten cash sheets which were completed by
the vault workers prior to the removal of funds. Based on documents obtained
from a search warrant of materials in the possession of John Butler, the original
cash sheets were located which verified the differences between the cash sheets
and the MICROS information. Comparisons between the cash sheets and the
worksheets show the amount of cash which was never reported. Between 01/04/13
and 03/29/16, $102,571.45 in cash was removed from the vault through this
method. The City was entitled to receive commissions on those funds. At trial, the
State would show that the scheme resulted in the underreporting of commissions
owed to the City of Bloomington in the amount of $14,005.
‘The evidence would show that as this conduct occurred, John Butler was
acting in his capacity as President of BMI Concessions and personally commanded
that other employees remove the funds for the payment of BMI Concessions
obligations.
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