OSAGE BEACH, Mo. — A bombshell lawsuit related to the Oasis at Lakeport entertainment complex on Lake of the Ozarks claims the lead developer, Jeff Tegethoff, took millions of dollars from the project and used the money for unrelated expenses.
In the suit filed on Tuesday, Aug. 25 in Jackson County Missouri Circuit Court, the Oasis development group says the lawsuit arises out of “a lengthy course of misconduct by… Tegethoff and his related entities.”
The development group makes four major claims in its lawsuit:
1. That Tegethoff misappropriated millions of dollars by taking them out of project-specific accounts and funneling them to his own personal accounts or other unrelated projects,
2. That Tegethoff mismanaged the project, leading to cost overruns and additional funds required by the project lender,
3. That Tegethoff misrepresented or failed to disclose major financial troubles, including a $2 million personal IRS tax lien and a $13 million judgment in Indiana, and
4. That Tegethoff breached the development contract by commingling project funds with developer funds.
The plaintiffs in the case are named as:
• Lakeport Hotel GP LLC
• Lakeport Hotel LLC
• Lakeport Village LLC
• Oasis at Lakeport LLC
• Oasis at Lakeport 1 LLC, and
• Big T LLC
The defendants:
• Jeffrey Tegethoff individually
• Tegethoff Development, LLC
• Tegethoff Development Co., LLC
• JJT Revocable Trust, of which Tegethoff is a trustee
One of the project’s primary capital investors is Fred Ross, owner of Iconic Marine Group/Big Thunder Marine. Ross owns Big T LLC.
“A Penchant For Fraud”
Tegethoff has been an investor and/or lead developer on multiple projects across Missouri and the Midwest. And he’s no stranger to financial hangups and lawsuits.
At Lake of the Ozarks, Tegethoff’s first development was The Preserve at Sycamore Creek, a $60 million apartment complex on Nichols Road. That project is now complete and management reports increasing occupancy, but it came after a lengthy delay in which contractors had to endure unpaid invoices for many months.
Developer Jeff Tegethoff speaks at the March 2023 groundbreaking for The Preserve at Sycamore Creek in Osage Beach. A new lawsuit alleges approximately $2 million in Lakeport project funds was transferred for The Preserve in March 2024, while construction on the apartment complex was stalled amid a funding gap.
Beyond the Lake area, Tegethoff has faced lawsuits over his projects in Indiana and St. Peters, Mo. In the St. Peters project, Tegethoff’s partners made allegations similar to those being made by Ross and fellow investors in the Oasis project — that Tegethoff and his businesses had taken money out of dedicated project accounts and used it either to pay for other, unrelated development projects or to fund his own personal activities.
In the lawsuit, the development group pointed to an Indiana case in which it says the judge wrote that Tegethoff “had a penchant for fraud.”
Where They Say The Money Went
In the lawsuit filing, the development group described a series of bank transactions that they say reveal Tegethoff’s alleged misappropriation of funds.
Several instances were pointed to in which Tegethoff allegedly moved $2.675 million out of a dedicated Oasis project account and through multiple other accounts, including $850,000 into a Chesterfield condo development account and nearly $150,000 into an account for construction financing for Tegethoff’s personal home in Clayton; ultimately that chain of transactions allegedly ended with Tegethoff depositing $1 million back into the Oasis account.
The plaintiffs say this wasn’t an isolated incident.
They point to another chain of transactions on March 8, 2024: another $2.25 million allegedly moved through Lakeport accounts to Tegethoff Development, after which $2 million allegedly went to an account associated with Preserve at Sycamore Creek, $785,000 to another Tegethoff account and $225,000 to an account in Tegethoff's name.
The timing of the alleged transfer is notable. It came while The Preserve project was shut down amid a funding gap between required owner equity and bank financing.
In an interview with LakeExpo published March 12, 2024 — just four days after the alleged $2 million transfer to The Preserve — Tegethoff explained, “Our equity goes in first. The bank doesn't say, ‘Hey we'll put money in alongside of you.’ They say, ‘You put all of your money in first then we'll put our money in.’”
Tegethoff acknowledged the funding problems were his responsibility, adding, “It's a hundred percent on me… But also, we're in the process of getting that back on track.”
By late June 2024, The Preserve was back under full construction. The general contractor told LakeExpo at the time that the project had fallen $4–5 million behind on payments before financing resumed, but that all subcontractors had ultimately been paid.
On April 29, another Lakeport contribution allegedly traveled essentially the same path, with $175,919.81 eventually transferred to an account associated with Old Hickory Village, an unrelated apartment development in St. Peters, Mo. Investors in Old Hickory have separately sued Tegethoff, alleging he took millions of dollars intended for that project and diverted it to unrelated business and personal expenses.
The lawsuit points to testimony allegedly given in February 2025 by former Tegethoff Development, LLC Chief Financial Officer Adam Yohler. According to the Oasis developers, Yohler at the time stated it was Tegethoff’s practice to take investor cash from development projects and transfer it to Tegethoff Development accounts for other uses, at Tegethoff’s discretion. Yohler allegedly testified that Tegethoff considered those transfers a “liability” or loan from the other projects.
In that vein, the Oasis lawsuit says Tegethoff Development's own financial statement listed a $13,018,529.33 liability owed to “Lakeport Hotel.” The plaintiffs characterize that as confirmation Tegethoff Development had misappropriated more than $13 million from the Lakeport Hotel entity alone.
The plaintiffs called Tegethoff’s companies Tegethoff Development and Tegethoff Development Co. his “alter ego,” saying he transferred money between multiple business accounts “for no business purpose, often with multiple transfers on a single day, and often resulting in ultimate transfers to Jeff individually. In doing so Jeff Tegethoff treated Tegethoff Development and Tegethoff DevCo as shells and used them as his instrumentality to engage in wrongful conduct…”
The lawsuit also alleges Tegethoff Development improperly transferred a 1% ownership interest in Oasis to the Jordan & Lauren Wilson Joint Revocable Trust in connection with a $2 million note, in violation of restrictions in the project's operating agreement.
The Cost Overruns
One major element of the lawsuit is the alleged project overruns.
The suit says the project lender had communicated that, due to cost overruns, loan disbursements would be paused until the investors put in more of their own money, termed “loan-balancing payments.”
Oasis at Lakeport LLC served a notice about the cost overrun situation to Tegethoff, requiring a payment of $29,322,897.54. That notice was received in March of 2026.
The lawsuit says Tegethoff Development was contractually obligated to make that payment, “but it failed or refused to do so.”
Developer Jeff Tegethoff shows LakeExpo one of two full-scale Marriott demo rooms built in Osage Beach in July 2025 to preview the planned hotel at Oasis at Lakeport.
The $2M Lien & The $13M Judgment
According to the lawsuit, shortly before the construction loan closed in Nov. 2025, the lender discovered a personal IRS tax lien against Tegethoff totaling $2,158,039.77. As a result, the lender required the development group to establish an IRS Lien Reserve containing enough money to cover the lien.
The plaintiffs say Tegethoff told them the lien had already been paid and he was simply waiting for the IRS to release it. They allege that was false: the lien had not been paid. Tegethoff also allegedly indicated he would personally fund the reserve, but instead, the lawsuit says, he modified the project and financing settlement statements so that project funds were held back by the lender to cover it.
Tegethoff Development subsequently agreed that if the lien had not been released by the project's next loan draw, it would contribute an additional $2.158 million in equity to replace the money being held in reserve. The plaintiffs say the lien remained unpaid, but Tegethoff Development never made the required contribution.
The Oasis team also alleges Tegethoff failed to tell them about an approximately $13 million judgment entered against Tegethoff Development and related entities in Indiana that occurred shortly before the Lakeport financing closed.
The Partnership & Contract
The lawsuit points out Tegethoff and his businesses were not admitted into the project as “ordinary passive investors”; rather, the development group says, Tegethoff had claimed that he had the “experience, financing capability, development capability, equity-raising ability, balance sheet support, and guarantor support necessary to develop and finance a project of this size and complexity.”
When Tegethoff partnered with Ross’s Big T LLC in late-2022, the lawsuit says, the agreement was: “Big T contributed the land and local Project opportunity, while Tegethoff Development and Jeff Tegethoff were to bring the development, financing, equity-raise, guaranty, balance-sheet, and execution capabilities necessary to cause the Lakeport Project to be financed and built.”
While a Project Budget included in the lawsuit shows an $8 million developer fee — with $6 million allocated to Tegethoff — the Development Agreement reveals Tegethoff assigned that $6 million fee to Tegethoff Development, LLC, which agreed to waive the cash payment and instead have the amount treated as a capital contribution to the Lakeport Hotel ownership entity. In other words, at least part of Tegethoff's capital contribution to the hotel project was structured as sweat equity rather than cash; the cash he opted to forego was then treated as capital contributed to the ownership equity.
The lawsuit points to the various contracts entered into by Tegethoff and the multiple business entities that were to develop and own various portions of the project. In those contracts, a “default event” by Tegethoff Development would include — among other things — “(i) fraud, intentional material misrepresentation, gross negligence, or willful misconduct, (ii) applying or using company or project funds in a manner that is in violation of the terms of this Agreement, (iii) a Transfer by the TD Member or any of its affiliates in violation of the agreement; (iv) a Bankruptcy Action…”
Off The Project & Tegethoff’s Response
The relationship between Tegethoff and the rest of the development team appears to have deteriorated rapidly.
On Nov. 20, 2025, Tegethoff and Ross stood before a room full of contractors at Big Thunder Marine’s Lake Ozark showroom to announce the reboot of the Oasis project. Work at the site had mostly stalled for over a year, as the developers worked to obtain the remaining titles to the timeshare units that once stood at the site and were demolished in early 2025.
Developer/investors Jeff Tegethoff and Fred Ross address a group of contractors on Nov. 20 at Big Thunder's showroom, apologizing for the delays in The Oasis at Lakeport project, explaining what happened, and building anticipating for the project to resume.
(Editor's note: our apologies for the poor audio quality during Mr. Ross' comments. We only had a mic on Mr. Tegethoff, so the quality is admittedly not great when it's picking up Mr. Ross's voice through the speakers.)
So in November, Tegethoff and Ross stood together to share their excitement about the project moving forward after its massive financing package had closed — eight days after they signed that $2.1 million Lien Reserve Funding Agreement related to Tegethoff’s outstanding IRS lien.
The lien was not mentioned at that meeting, but during the presentation by developers, Tegethoff revealed details about the Oasis project funding stack, saying that approximately $95 million had come from investors’ cash equity. “All ninety-five million of our cash equity is in the deal and has been in the deal for a long time,” he told the gathering.
At that Nov. 20 meeting, Tegethoff introduced Ross, saying “I’m fortunate to have Fred as my partner.”
By early June 2026, the development team announced Tegethoff was off the project, citing the recent bankruptcy filing by Tegethoff Development and potential legal actions regarding his company’s conduct.
Jeff Tegethoff, left, and Fred Ross at a Nov. 20, 2025 meeting with Oasis at Lakeport contractors at Big Thunder Marine. At the meeting, Tegethoff repeatedly referred to Ross as his partner. Six months later, Tegethoff was removed from management of the Lakeport entities. Ross' Big T LLC is now among the plaintiffs suing Tegethoff and his companies.
A week later, Tegethoff fired back publicly with a lengthy written statement. In it, he gave his account of the alleged cost overruns:
Big T, LLC and its principal, Fred Ross, raised questions regarding project accounting. In response, the Company proactively engaged with Canvas Wealth Advisors and Flint Development to review the books and clarify all accounting structures. Significant progress was being made toward a transparent resolution when Flint unexpectedly terminated its work on behalf of Big T and Fred Ross, abruptly ending this cooperative review process. Contemporaneously, Big Thunder Marine and Fred Ross alleged substantial project cost overruns. However, these claims were made while actively blocking Mr. Tegethoff from participating in or accessing project operations, and no backup documentation or supporting detail was provided to the Company. Furthermore, rather than pursuing a proportional overrun contribution from both of the project's contractually named developers as allowed, Big T and Fred Ross affirmatively refused to seek any contribution from Skyview and demanded, without justification, that Tegethoff Development Co, LLC fund the entirety of the alleged overruns.
Tegethoff also claimed other investors — including Ross — had “actively blocked Mr. Tegethoff from performing his duties under the development agreements…”
The statement added, “It is our strong desire to return to active, collaborative work on these developments," Tegethoff concluded. "Arbitrarily blocking our participation does not just harm our firm—it actively diminishes the ongoing value of the entire Lakeport Village project to the detriment of all investors, lenders, and community stakeholders who bought into our vision.”
The statement also noted Tegethoff and his companies would not be issuing any further press releases or public statements about the disputes.
LakeExpo reached out to Tegethoff for comment on the new lawsuit but had not received a response by publication time.
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