Deal with Gilbert Bottled Blonde falls through; Landowner arrested for $40 million fraud

GILBERT, AZ (AZFamily) — A popular Valley bar and nightclub just scrapped plans to open a new location in Gilbert after the deal fell through due to a $40 million fraud scheme.

The FBI arrested the landowner on money laundering and fraud charges after Aaron Wagner and his partner Michael Mains allegedly defrauded investors of millions of dollars.

According to the federal indictment, Wagner and Mains convinced investors to give them $40 million and promised to finance dozens of restaurants. Instead, federal investigators said they used the money for down payments on multimillion-dollar homes in Scottsdale and Montana, for land to build a new nightclub in Scottsdale and for an $8 million private plane.

Wagner also purchased the Clare House property, the second oldest building in Gilbert. This sparked controversy over concerns that the building might be demolished to create the Bottle Blonde location.

According to Evening Entertainment Group, Bottled Blonde resigned as a tenant of Wagner's property in October.

Julia Taggart, an activist who fought to save the building, said this now gives them more time to save the historic building.

“It’s still very much in limbo, but it will stay that way for now,” Taggart said. “I would like to see if it gets purchased by a new business owner and that business owner restores it for their business or helps bring it to the Gilbert Historical Museum.

Wagner's attorney sent Arizona's family a statement saying, “Aaron denies the allegations made against him. He looks forward to defending himself in court.”

Do you see a spelling or grammatical error in our story? Please click here to report it.

Do you have a photo or video of a recent news story? Send it to us here with a short description.

Copyright 2024 KTVK/KPHO. All rights reserved.