WICHITA, Kansas – After a lengthy trial, lawyers on both sides delivered complex closing arguments in the Thomas Etheredge Trial.Etheredge faces nine counts of fraud for allegedly not being open and honest with investors in the failed Wild West World amusement park.
Wild West World was open for just two months before shutting down.
Prosecutors say Etheredge didn’t tell investors many details about his previous convictions for fraud. Prosecutors also allege that Etheredge faked a religious conversion to win investors trust.
Securities Commissioner Chris Biggs says investors had a legal right to know more about who they were dealing with.
"The test isn't even that they wouldn't have invested; the test is simply did they have a right to know," Biggs said.
Etheredge’s defense says their client was open and honest about his criminal past in both a book and media reports. The defense questioned how much information investors were entitled to know.
“Be wise and be just,” defense attorney Steven Joseph said. “If you are, you will send him home to his family.”
The jury will continue deliberations on Tuesday.
