Investors Seek to Collect $13M Judgment Against St. Louis Developer, While Pursuing Fraud Lawsuit

Date Posted: January 13, 2026

Posted In: Organizations, People, Projects,

From St. Louis Business Journal: Investors due to receive a $13 million court settlement from a St. Louis developer are seeking to collect in Missouri while also filing a new federal lawsuit claiming fraud.

Developer Jeff Tegethoff, who has worked on some of the largest pending developments in St. Louis and the Lake of the Ozarks, agreed in October through a court in Indiana to pay a $13 million settlement to some of his investors. In a nearly two-year court case, Indianapolis-area real estate investors Jeffrey Bush and Shawn Bush, through investment entities, alleged that Tegethoff did not pay them after selling one of their projects, and diverted millions of dollars of their real estate investments from his St. Louis projects for personal use. Tegethoff has denied those claims and categorized the dispute as a business fallout.

“Unable to Pay”

Now the Bushes have initiated legal action in Missouri against Tegethoff and his development companies, taking action to collect the $13 million, which they wrote in court filings that Tegethoff and his companies said they were “unable” to pay. Weeks later, two separate LLCs managed by the Bushes filed a new federal lawsuit against Tegethoff and his firms, alleging the same type of fraud on a different St. Louis project.

The mutually agreed settlement deal in Indiana between Tegethoff and the Bush entities is confidential, and was agreed to “without any finding or admission of wrongdoing by any party,” Tegethoff said in a statement. In court filings, he called the Indiana case “groundless and frivolous.” Through attorneys, he denied the claims in the new lawsuit, calling the situation a dispute between real estate investors that would have no effect on Tegethoff’s projects.

Biggest Projects Yet

The judgment and federal lawsuit add pressure on Tegethoff and his firms just as he is launching his biggest projects yet, and some of the largest developments underway in the state of Missouri. Tegethoff is co-developing the $495 million new entertainment district under construction in the Lake of the Ozarks, Oasis at Lakeport, which will add an amusement park and a Marriott resort and conference center intended to make the lake a year-round entertainment destination. Most recently, he joined the development group that is backing the creation of a new riverboat casino at the Lake of the Ozarks. In November, Tegethoff donated $250,000 to kick off the campaign for the statewide ballot measure required to approve the casino. 

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