The Utah Court of Appeals has turned away prominent developer Terry Diehl’s attempt to stay a lawsuit against him while he resolves a pending federal criminal case.
The court without comment denied Diehl’s attempt to appeal a decision by a judge presiding over the lawsuit, who declined to temporarily halt court proceedings.
That clears the way for a scheduled February trial of a lawsuit that alleges Diehl took $8.3 million that was to supposed to go to a company jointly owned by Diehl and a creditor, Michael Bodell and his Bodell Construction Co. The money was supposed to pay off some of the millions of dollars Diehl owed Bodell, the suit alleges.
Instead, Diehl transferred the funds to a bank account owned on paper by his daughters, but which Diehl allegedly ultimately controlled, the suit said. It seeks to recover the funds.
Diehl, a former Utah Transit Authority board member, faces 12 felony counts of lying about and concealing assets in a 2012 bankruptcy case.
He has pleaded not guilty and a jury trial is scheduled for Nov. 1. One count of the indictment alleges Diehl failed to report as income more than $1 million he received from development around a UTA FrontRunner train station in Draper.
In early April, federal prosecutors announced a criminal probe of developments at UTA train stations that were the subject of two critical legislative audits that raised questions about conflicts of interest and self-dealing. Diehl was indicted the next day.
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