Stanley S. Tollman, one of the first investors in the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe's off-reservation casino in the Catskills, won't ever be able to visit the facility if it is built.

That's because he left the county and "retired" in England. But federal prosecutors say he fled the country to avoid bank fraud and tax evasion charges.

Tollman first got involved in Indian gaming when he tried to covert a bingo hall on the Mohawk Reservation into a casino. Then he met Robert Berman, who hatched the idea to open a casino in the Catskills.

In 2000, Tollman and Berman received initial federal approval for the casino. But the tribe abruptly switched partners and went with a new gaming site.

The tribe is now back with Berman's Empire Resorts. The project again won initial federal approval in December 2006.

Tollman and his family have stock in Empire but federal prosecutors have frozen Tollman's assets.

Get the Story:
As Catskill Casino Takes Shape, It Is Beyond One Backer’s Grasp (The New York Times 3/22)
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