Bottled Blonde, a popular Valley bar, has pulled out of its plans to open a location in Gilbert after allegations that the landowner committed money laundering and fraud.
Aaron Wagner, the Founder and CEO of WAGS Capitol, who is behind various Valley businesses, faces 16 federal counts of money laundering and fraud related to business funds.
Wagner is accused of convincing investors to give him more than $40 million over several years, which they believed would be for restaurant and other business investments.
Wagner would allegedly use the money for personal expenses, including exotic cars, personal jets, and multi-million-dollar homes.
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According to court paperwork, Wagner would then post on marketing channels using the lavish lifestyle to show off his false business success.
In one example, Wagner and his co-defendant Michael Mains are accused of taking hundreds of thousands of dollars from Crumbl Cookie locations, making the funds appear to have been paid to “Shift Leads” instead of themselves.
Court documents also show that out of $11 million from investors, which was to be used to fund Dirty Bird, Kokonut Island Grill, and Hello Sugar locations, “Wagner and Mains diverted approximately $9 million to their own purposes” including down payments on homes, personal planes and other properties.
Wagner denies the allegations against him, his attorney told ABC15 Tuesday.
One of the properties purchased by Wagner included the land that housed the former Bergies coffee shop location in Gilbert, which was slated to be torn town and rebuilt for a controversial Bottled Blonde bar location that ABC15 has covered extensively.
After news of the allegations, Evening Entertainment Group released the following statement to ABC15: "Evening Entertainment Group and Bottled Blonde have withdrawn as the proposed tenant at the Gilbert development owned by Aaron Wagner, effective October 2024."
Bottled Blonde tells ABC15 it no longer has any ties to Wagner after pulling out of the deal to be a tenant on his Gilbert property.
We've reached out to members of the Gilbert town staff to find out how these charges may impact the future of that property and they provided the following statement:
Since the property is privately owned, any future development on that site would be initiated by the property owners – whether this group or a new owner. The Town’s responsibility would be to review the application for consistency with Town codes and ensure the proper process is followed. The existing approval will expire 3 years from the February 21, 2024 design approval by the Redevelopment Commission.
With regards to the Justice Department information below, the Town is not a party to the complaint. The complaint is a private matter not involving the Town.
ABC15 has also reached out to leaders with the Gilbert Historical Museum who say the future of the site is unclear.
