Developer Erik Osborn’s felony trial opened Monday, with the lead prosecutor telling jurors it is a simple case of theft.
But attorneys defending Osborn reminded the jury that Osborn is presumed innocent and that the case is a matter of who stole money from whom.
The developer of the One Lincoln Park luxury condominium project downtown is accused of two third-degree felony counts and faces up to 24 years in prison if convicted.
According to an indictment handed up in December 2007, Osborn allegedly diverted about $147,000 from One Lincoln Park and $108,000 from an office building renovation project at 5351 S. Roslyn St. in Greenwood Village. He allegedly used the money for improvements to his own home.
Osborn’s investors in the One Lincoln Park project included auto-dealership owner Doug Moreland, talk-radio personality Tom Manoogian and Blair Richardson, managing partner of Bow River Capital Partners private equity investment fund.
They paid $1.9 million for the lot the 32-story building sits on at East 20th Avenue and Lincoln Street, another $3.5 million to build a sales center and provided $11.5 million in financing, prosecutor Joe Morales told the jury.
Under terms of the deal, Osborn was to receive 50 percent of the profit and $17,500 a month to manage the project. His wife, Angela Osborn, was to receive $7,500 a month as the exclusive real estate agent.
Osborn submitted invoices through Oceanview, a company he said was an independent contractor doing work on the project. In reality, Oceanview was controlled by Osborn, Morales said.
“The guy was given the golden egg and money to make it through the day,” Morales said. “It wasn’t enough.”
The project was a dream for Erik and Angela Osborn, said Robert McAllister, Osborn’s attorney. Erik Osborn asked his friends Moreland and Ma noogian to be his partners in the project.
“They put together an agreement as to how it would be funded, but moving forward the agreement changed over and over again,” McAllister said. “You may conclude that Moreland and Manoogian stole money from Mr. Osborn.”
On the Roslyn project, Osborn partnered with Jeff Raymond. Raymond did not want contracting companies operated by Osborn to draw money from the $3 million loan they had secured from Heritage Bank, Morales said. But Osborn continued to draw the funds anyway, in effect stealing from the partnership Roslyn Development LLC, Morales said.
But McAllister contended that if the victim of the theft is Roslyn Development, and Osborn is the owner and manager, he is really the victim.
“It really comes down to a credibility issue,” he said.
The trial is expected to continue into next week.
Margaret Jackson: 303-954-1473 or mjackson@denverpost.com
