Pictured is a Swadley’s Bar-B-Q restaurant in Midwest City on Feb. 8, 2024. (Photo by Carmen Forman/Oklahoma Voice)
OKLAHOMA CITY – A restaurant owner charged with defrauding the state is accusing Oklahoma’s attorney general of using a pending criminal case to bolster his gubernatorial bid.
Brent Swadley is seeking to have Attorney General Gentner Drummond’s office removed from the case and to have a judge prohibit them from publicly speaking about it.
Defense attorneys argue Drummond has used his position to publicly declare Swadley guilty, predict his imprisonment and paint him as “a symbol of government corruption,” according to court filings.
But in court documents, Drummond argues the accusations and request for gag order amount to an unpermitted stall tactic to delay criminal proceedings. He denies wrongdoing.
In February 2024, the state’s multicounty grand jury indicted Ronald Brent Swadley, Curtis Ray Breuklander and Timothy Raymond Hooper with one count of conspiracy to defraud the state and five counts of presenting false or fraudulent claims against the state.
The charges stemmed from a controversial contract the state had with Swadley’s Foggy Bottom Kitchen to operate restaurants in some state parks. Prosecutors allege the state was provided with false invoices, and a restaurant supplier was directed to fabricate invoices with inflated amounts.
Swadley is the company’s owner. Hooper served as the company’s chief operating officer and Breuklander is a former vice president.
A spokesperson for Swadley’s said Hooper and Breuklander were no longer with the company.
The three men have denied wrongdoing.
When reached for comment Friday, Drummond’s office pointed to court briefs filed in response. Drummond’s statements are allowable and a response to a media campaign by Swadley, the filing said. Swadley fails to present evidence the statements will prejudice the fact finding process, the response said.
In a motion, Drummond said Swadley is using an amended motion to disqualify “as a procedural weapon to delay these proceedings.”
He wrote the court should deny both the gag order and removal requests because they’re attempts to delay the trial, which had been scheduled for November.
A judge pushed back the trial date over the state’s “strenuous objection.” It had not been rescheduled as of Friday.
Swadley’s attorney could not immediately comment on Drummond’s allegation about delaying the trial, a spokesperson said.
The state has also sued Swadley in civil court. Swadley has countersued.
The filing accuses Drummond of violating the Rules of Professional Conduct for attorneys.
Drummond’s remarks are also interfering with Swadley’s business relationships, the brief said.
“These statements, which were delivered at public events, on the campaign trail, in press releases, on social media and quoted in media articles, go far beyond permissible public information and strike at the heart of Swadley’s” right to a fair trial, the motion said.
Swadley says Drummond told a banker’s group in March that people who are wealthy and well connected in Oklahoma can break the law. He also said that Brent Swadley is going to go to prison for about eight years, according to filings.
A few weeks later, a bank to which Swadley had applied for a loan terminated his application, according to the filing.
In April, Drummond said Swadley “washed invoices” and took $6 million from the state, according to the motion.
