PEKIN, Ill. – News media outlets throughout Central Illinois are asking a Tazewell County judge to unseal documents in a case against Reditus Labs CEO Aaron Rossi.
Rossi — indicted last month on federal tax fraud-related charges — is also named in a lawsuit by former business partner, Doctor James Davie.
He alleges Rossi shut him out of business dealings with Reditus, especially as it was awarded hundreds of millions of dollars in state COVID-19-testing contracts, and misused money to fund his own lavish lifestyle.
Media outlets including 1470 & 100.3 WMBD, WMBD-TV, the Journal Star, 25 News, and Heart of Illinois ABC among others want the suit unsealed, in part, to preserve the First Amendment, and learn about Reditus’ financial operations.
The outlets want a protective order lifted. The request has been filed by media attorney Don Craven, who represents print and broadcast media organizations statewide.
“Those protective orders that are entered in the pre-trial discovery phase must be very limited, and must be very narrowly drawn and very narrowly applied to protect true trade secrets, and not simply information that may be private, may be personal, may be embarrassing if released,” Craven said.
Meanwhile, a new filing by Davie accuses Rossi of being a “chronic liar,” a “user of illegally prescribed medications,” a “tax cheat,” and an “embezzler.”
Craven said media outlets are not taking sides on who is right and who is wrong; rather, they just want to accurately report on what is going on.
Rossi is scheduled to make his first appearance in federal court on the criminal charges Thursday.
