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SHERMAN — Once upon a time, prosecutors say, Thomas W. Lucas Jr. created a lie.
“He sold that lie, and he caused others to sell that lie,” Assistant U. S. Attorney Chris Eason told jurors on the opening day of Lucas’ federal fraud trial.
But unlike other Disney stories, Eason said, this one “does not end happily ever after.”
Lucas, 40, is accused of duping investors — including former SMU and NBA player Jon Koncak — with a phony story about a Walt Disney theme park coming to North Texas. Although the Disney rumor has been around for more than two decades, Lucas is the only one to face trial on allegations that he tried to illegally profit from the tale.
Prosecutors say Lucas forged official-looking documents about “Frontier Disney” that he showed to investors to trick them into buying vacant land in Denton and Collin counties. More than 50 investors lost a total of about $14 million, records show. Lucas earned more than $448,000 in sales commissions and fees on the land deals, Eason said.
Lucas, who faces seven fraud charges and one false statement charge, worked for the Carrollton-based Harry B. Lucas Co. at the time.
He told his partners and investors that he had a secret Disney source who would talk only to him and that they communicated using prepaid burner phones and other clandestine methods, Eason said.
Eason said Lucas displayed photos of a luxury resort during investor sales pitches that had been lifted from the website of a real development. That locale, Palazzo Del Lago, is an $800 million luxury resort in Orlando with more than 1,200 rooms and suites.
Another photo that investors were shown was doctored to make it seem like a top Disney executive, Jay Rasulo, was standing in front of a Frontier Disney backdrop, Eason said.
Lucas told investors that once Disney announced its plans for the North Texas theme park, around 2008, the value of their vacant land would skyrocket, allowing them to sell to developers at a big profit.
But it never happened. Disney officials say they never had plans to build in North Texas.
Some investors sued Lucas in state court. It’s believed they also went to the FBI, which investigated and made the arrest in 2013.
Thomas D’Amore, one of Lucas’ defense attorneys, said his client had no involvement in what land to buy or how to wire money. And other people assembled investors, he said. One person alone brought in more than 120 investors, he said.
D’Amore said Lucas’ immediate family members also invested in the land near Celina, showing that he had no intent to defraud anyone.
“Is there a scapegoat here for some failed business transactions?” he asked.
D’Amore suggested it was perhaps the greed of investors that was to blame — people who wanted to take advantage of landowners in the area.
He also noted that the investors’ current land holdings are worth a lot more than they were years ago when they bought it.
The government’s first witness Monday, John Yarid Jr., a former SMU swimmer, said he worked for the Lucas company from 2006 to 2009. He said he and his family invested money in the scheme after he learned of the details from Lucas.
He said Lucas held as many as 100 investor presentations in Texas and in other states. One presentation was held in Indiana for players with the Indianapolis Colts football team, Yarid said.
Jurors on Monday got to see some of the images used in those sales pitches. There was an illustration of downtown Dallas with Mickey Mouse ears on Reunion Tower.
Another slide showed Frontier Disney rides, which included “Houston We Have a Problem” and “Texas Thunder Mountain Railroad.”
A centerpiece of the fictitious park was the 1,215-room Grand Texan Adventure Hotel, which also featured villas, a marina, lakes, a man-made beachhead, palm trees, pools, gardens and a convention center.
A monorail would take visitors from the Frontier Disney airport to the park grounds.
Yarid said it all came from Lucas.
“I was blown away,” he said, describing his reaction to it. “Wow, this is unbelievable.”
