{"id":31632,"date":"2025-08-02T07:25:40","date_gmt":"2025-08-02T14:25:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/suit-alleges-fraud-on-oklahomas-2-5b-disney-sized-theme-park\/"},"modified":"2025-08-02T07:25:40","modified_gmt":"2025-08-02T14:25:40","slug":"suit-alleges-fraud-on-oklahomas-2-5b-disney-sized-theme-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/suit-alleges-fraud-on-oklahomas-2-5b-disney-sized-theme-park\/","title":{"rendered":"Suit alleges fraud on Oklahoma\u2019s $2.5B Disney-sized theme park"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> [ad_1]<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"text-to-speech\">\n    <button class=\"text-to-speech__button button\"><br \/>\n        <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"text-to-speech__button__icon\" src=\"https:\/\/www.constructiondive.com\/static\/img\/play.svg?500116090725\" alt=\"-\"><br \/>\n        Listen to the article<br \/>\n        <span class=\"text-to-speech__button__audio-length\">3 min<\/span><br \/>\n    <\/button><\/p>\n<div class=\"text-to-speech__controls\">\n        <audio controls=\"\" class=\"js-text-to-speech\" preload=\"none\"><source src=\"https:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/dmgi9movl\/video\/upload\/q_1\/v1754059442\/news\/text_to_speech\/oklahoma-theme-park-lawsuit_pywqpl.wav\" type=\"audio\/mp3\"><\/source><\/audio><\/p>\n<div class=\"text-to-speech__controls__text\">\n            This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.constructiondive.com\/contact\/\" target=\"_blank\">feedback<\/a>.\n        <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>The sole investor in the $2.5 billion American Heartland theme park and <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.constructiondive.com\/news\/oklahoma-american-heartland-theme-park-construction\/731618\/\" target=\"_blank\"><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>resort that failed to launch<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><span><span><span><span><span><span> in Vinita, Oklahoma, has alleged fraud and psychological abuse from the developers, according to a <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/26037417-us-dis-oknd-4-25cv383-d43180389e345-complaint-with-jury-demand-against-stephen-d-hedri\/\" target=\"_blank\"><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>lawsuit filed July 25<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><span><span><span><span><span><span> in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>In the suit, 91-year-old Gene Bicknell, who once owned a large chain of Pizza Hut franchises, alleges that promoters Richard M. Silanskas Jr., Larry K. Wilhite and Stephen D. Hedrick of Mansion Entertainment Group stole $60 million and caused him severe distress that led to a stroke last year. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>The suit, which asks for the investment back along with other fees, includes texts and emails from Silanskas and Wilhite impersonating messages from God.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>\u201cSilanskas and Wilhite executed a predatory conspiracy of psychological manipulation \u2014 convincing Gene, through fraud and impersonation, that God himself was commanding him both to finance the park\u2019s construction and to grant Silanskas and Wilhite two-thirds ownership over the completed venture,\u201d the lawsuit reads.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>Developer Mansion Entertainment Group announced in July 2023 designs for the 1,000-acre Americana-themed development, including roller coasters, an indoor water park, a 300-room hotel and an RV park. The footprint of the 125-acre theme portion would rival Disney\u2019s Magic Kingdom in Orlando, Florida, or Disneyland Park in Anaheim, California, in size.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>At the time, Hedrick commented publicly that Bicknell was the sole financial backer, per the suit.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>\u201cThe plan was to use Gene\u2019s money to build the American Heartland Project and then steal it, paying themselves handsomely along the way,\u201d the suit reads. \u201cSilanskas already had a record of involvement in failed theme park projects that left empty-handed investors in their wake.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>The RV area was originally scheduled to open in spring 2025, followed by the theme park and resort in fall 2026. Indeed, the <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.constructiondive.com\/news\/american-heartland-theme-park-oklahoma\/694962\/\" target=\"_blank\"><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>RV area broke ground in 2023<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><span><span><span><span><span><span> but nothing more has been built besides a fence and a gravel road, according to the suit. Developers claimed that their design team includes former Disney Parks builders and Walt Disney Imagineers, but that was also a lie, the suit alleges.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>\u201cThe groundbreaking was essentially the beginning and the end of the construction work on the entire Project,\u201d the lawsuit reads. \u201cInnocent people lost money by buying up land near Vinita with property values inflated by news of a theme park that would never exist.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>This is not the first time the project has been sued. Canadian design firm Forrec and Columbus, Kansas-based Crossland Construction both filed claims in May 2024 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.constructiondive.com\/news\/oklahoma-american-heartland-theme-park-construction\/731618\/\" target=\"_blank\"><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>alleging that they were not paid for their work<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><span><span><span><span><span><span>. At least five lawsuits or arbitrations have been filed by vendors, according to Bicknell\u2019s suit.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>Mansion Entertainment Group did not respond to Construction Dive&#8217;s request for comment on the lawsuit.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>[ad_2]<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.constructiondive.com\/news\/oklahoma-theme-park-lawsuit\/756550\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">This article was originally posted at Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[ad_1] Listen to the article 3 min This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. The &#8230; <a title=\"Suit alleges fraud on Oklahoma\u2019s $2.5B Disney-sized theme park\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/suit-alleges-fraud-on-oklahomas-2-5b-disney-sized-theme-park\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Suit alleges fraud on Oklahoma\u2019s $2.5B Disney-sized theme park\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[457],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-construction-dive","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-33"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31632","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31632"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31632\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}