Dueling Pianos Founder Charged With 122 Counts Of Financial Crimes

DENVER (CBS4) - The founder of a piano entertainment company has been charged with money laundering, theft and forgery.

He is alleged to have gotten away with hundreds of thousands of dollars from seven identified victims, all detailed in a 122-count indictment.

A night of entertainment is what clients expected to get when they hired the Dueling Pianos Roadshow for their events.

Heidi Weisner booked them for a school fundraiser.

"I had about 100 people coming to my house," she said.

Working with the company's founder, James or "Caz" Bzdek, Weisner agreed to pay $3500 for the performance that she never got.

"They were booked... Talked to him several times and then he went quiet at one point," Weisner said.

Her account however was busier than ever.

"My husband was informed that, from American Express, that he had hit our credit card at least four or five times," Weisner said.

A Denver grand jury has now indicted  Bzdek and his girlfriend, Bethany Concha, on numerous charges, alleging the two used that business to get ahold of credit card information and bill clients multiple times, keeping the extra money for themselves and leaving victims at a loss.

The indictment goes on to allege that Bzdek and Concha in some cases would use the stolen information to pay for daily living expenses, such as airline tickets, gas, utility bills, and even posting bond.

Weisner says she's lucky she used a major credit card, and ultimately wasn't out of any of the money personally.

CBS4's Karen Morfitt spoke with  Bzdek by phone, but he did not want to comment specifically on the charges. He did say that his girlfriend Beth is a great mother to their daughter and should not be named in anything. He hopes that all charges involving her will be dropped.