A business partner of Reditus Labs CEO Aaron Rossi is raising new allegations in an attempt to remove Rossi from any control of the Pekin company's finances.
James Davie is suing Reditus and Rossi, 39, of Bloomington, claiming Rossi "squeezed him" out of the company and misspent company funds. Reditus later became a major coronavirus testing company for the state of Illinois.
Peter Lubin, an attorney for Davie, claims witnesses allege Rossi embezzled large sums of money from a previous employer, that he lied to patients that he's a medical doctor, and that he illegally prescribed opiates to himself and others. Those allegations are included in a new court filing in Tazewell County that urges the court to unseal key documents in the case.
According to the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, Rossi is licensed as a registered surgical assistant. The license is due to expire May 31.
Lubin said media coverage of the lawsuit has provided his legal team additional evidence in their case against Rossi.
“Witnesses started coming out of the woodwork, other victims and people with vital information that never would have contacted me if we had kept this whole case a secret and under lid,” Lubin said.
Previous court filings from Davie allege threats of retaliation, cocaine use and more extravagant spending by Rossi.
The new court filing calls the protective order that’s keeping documents away from public view “overly broad,” and alleges Reditus has abused the order by labeling thousands of pages of financial records confidential without any indication whether those records included trade secrets that should not be made public.
It’s not clear when Tazewell County Judge Chris Doscotch might rule on the request. The next hearing is scheduled for April 14 in Pekin. No trial date has been set.
Rossi faces a hearing in early May on a request from Davie and Malcolm Herzog, a plaintiff in another lawsuit, to remove Rossi from any financial control of Reditus by placing the company into a receivership.
“The truth may be painful for Aaron Rossi. This may be a little bit of medicine for getting rid of the cancer that Aaron Rossi is at the heart of Reditus Labs,” Lubin said.
That hearing is expected to take up to one week.
Rossi also faces a federal indictment on tax fraud charges. He’s due to make his first court appearance on those charges Thursday in Peoria.
Reditus has not responded to a request for comment. An attorney for Rossi, William Kelly III, said during a recent court hearing that attorneys for Davie are engaged in a “media campaign” to “cause injury to the company.”
