The man accused of defrauding the University of Hawaii out of $200,000 in the Stevie Wonder concert debacle pleaded not guilty in U.S. District Court on Friday to one count of wire fraud.
Marc Hubbard, 44, a North Carolina nightclub owner and businessman, remains free after putting up his Charlotte nightclub to back a $200,000 bond.
Federal prosecutor Larry Tong said court officials determined that Hubbard has $1.3 million equity on the Independence Boulevard property.
U.S. District Judge Kevin S.C. Chang gave Hubbard 30 days to replace the secured bond with a $100,000 cash bond.
Chang also ordered Hubbard to undergo electronically monitored home detention, pending his trial in January, and restricted his travel to North Carolina, Hawaii and South Carolina, where he is facing charges that he fraudulently collected $700,000 for an Alicia Keys concert.
"My client came from North Carolina. I accompanied him. The purpose of our trip was obviously to demonstrate as we had predicted, that he was not a flight risk," said Peter Anderson, Hubbard’s lawyer from North Carolina.
After federal authorities in North Carolina arrested Hubbard on Nov. 8, a federal judge there granted his release on a $100,000 unsecured, signature bond.
A federal grand jury returned an indictment Nov. 7 charging Hubbard with lying to promoters about being able to secure Wonder’s services for a benefit concert in Hawaii in August. The promoters in turn assured UH officials that Wonder agreed to perform here.
The indictment charges one of the promoters, Sean Barriero, with the interstate transportation of stolen property for receiving in a wire transfer the $200,000 that UH had put down as a deposit for the concert.
Barriero, 44, a British citizen living in Miami, pleaded guilty Nov. 8 and is cooperating with authorities.
According to the indictment, Barriero sent $120,000 of UH’s money to Hubbard, sent $11,250 to a promoter in Europe and kept the rest, $68,750, for himself.
"We’re gong to receive and review the government’s evidence with our client. And we’ll answer the evidence in court at the appropriate time," said Michael Purpura, Hubbard’s lawyer in Hawaii.
UH had printed and sold tickets for the concert before a Wonder representative told school officials that the artist didn’t know anything about the concert and had not committed to it.
In the fallout, the university transferred athletic director Jim Donovan to another job, and state lawmakers grilled school officials in public hearings to determine how the phony-concert mess happened.
