ST. LOUIS – A St. Louis County man has filed a suit against his brother and other family members over allegations that he had to pay restitution for a crime he did not commit.
Kenneth Bialczak filed a complaint on March 22 in the St. Louis Circuit Court against William Bialczak, David Bialczak, et al. alleging conversion, unjust enrichment, fraud and other counts.
According to the complaint, the plaintiff and his brother, William, are equal owners in six parking and towing businesses. The suit states in August 2008, the Federal Bureau of Investigation conducted a raid at the companies' main office in St. Louis and seized $874,978 in cash. The plaintiff alleges the cash was divided between a safe and a desk drawer.
The plaintiff alleges he was not aware of the contents of the safe at the time, and "the cash in the safe was the property of the companies that Bill and David were hiding from both Ken and governmental taxing agencies."
"In an attempt to help his brother, Ken falsely told prosecutors that he was in on the scheme to avoid paying taxes and that half of the undeclared sums were attributable to him," the suit states. "As a result, Bill and Ken were each charged with and convicted of tax evasion."
The plaintiff holds William Bialczak, David Bialczak, et al. responsible because the defendants allegedly breached their fiduciary duty, William Bialczak allegedly skimmed cash from the companies without reporting to or making a matching distribution to the plaintiff, and the defendants have concealed material facts regarding the use of assets, funds and expenses of the companies.
The plaintiff seeks judgment against the defendants in an amount to be proven at trial, plus interest, punitive damages, attorney's fees, costs and all further relief as the court deems jus and proper. He is represented by Albert S. Watkins and Michael D. Schwade of Kodner Watkins LC in St. Louis.
St. Louis Circuit Court case number 1822-CC00571