Accused of fraud, Interzone chief may face federal jail time

Serial game studio exec Marty Brickey, best known for his role in the fiasco surrounding the 2010 closure of the Australian studio arm of his company Interzone, is reportedly facing federal indictment on multiple charges of money laundering and wire fraud after raising money from investors for games that were never made.

The Springfield News-Leader reports that Brickey stands accused of bilking investors out of over $14.5 million for fraudulent game development since 2008, and could face up to 120 years of jail time if he is found guilty on all counts.

Back in 2010, Brickey infamously locked employees out of Interzone's Australian studio after being accused of failing to pay more than $1.5 million in unpaid wages, taxes, and pensions.

Developers there had been working on the football MMO game Interzone Futebol (pictured), and at the time a report from a former studio employee stated that "much unpaid work was requested of the Perth studio in order to demonstrate the game to potential publishers."

Interzone's U.S. management reportedly took the code, assets and other work done in Australia and attempted to continue it stateside, though no game was ever released.

GamePolitics reports that Brickey then continued to try and raise money from sources in the U.S. even as he became embroiled in at least one civil lawsuit with a jilted investor of another Brickey company, Big Collision Games. According to the federal indictment, Brickey has operated at least five different game companies in the last nine years.