Forgotten Boardwalk's NJ brewing license process

Below is a link to a public document posted and available on the State of NJ's ABC web site. The majority of this document is 55 pages of the approval process Forgotten Boardwalk went through to get their brewing license from the state between 2014-2015.

http://www.nj.gov/lps/abc/downloads/abc-bulletin-2486.pdf

I'll let you read and draw your own conclusions.

 

From Page 1-18: "Given the ongoing investigation by the Waterfront Commission into Seth Dolled's alleged association with Jamie Queli's father, Joseph M. Queli, an alleged member of the Genovese crime family, and given the unresolved questions about the source of Jamie Queli's money, the Licensing Bureau sought the assistance of the Division's Enforcement Bureau in continuing the investigation into the qualifications of Jamie Queli and Seth Dolled to hold a Limited Brewery License and into the source of money used to finance the Forgotten Boardwalk business"

From Page 1-40: "In total, Forgotten Boardwalk invested at least $462,445.50 on this business venture prior to ever filing au application with the Division... Presumably, the principals knew, or should have known, that they had to apply for and prove to the Division that they had the requisite qualifications to hold a liquor license' Given that it appears that Jamie Queli received approximately $284,545.00 for the business from her father, a man with federal and State convictions for racketeering, money laundering, loan sharking and tax evasion, and given that Seth Dolled's alleged associations with organized crime have made him the subject of an investigation by the waterfront commission, it is beyond comprehension that these individuals spent over $460,000.00 on this business without hiring an attorney and/or discussing the viability of a license with the Division' The fact that they now have to pay back their lenders for their ill-conceived expenditures is not the Division's fault and is not the kind of hardship that should result in the issuance of a temporary license."

 

No ax to grind at all. I don't know anything about their beer firsthand, so I'm not going to make judgments either way on that. However, this was only posted to the state of NJ ABC site recently, so the facts are relatively fresh and it seems the licensing process is still in temporary stages. The last information is that their temporary license expired 6/30/15. Here's the general gist of the facts.

-Both the Quelli and Dolled families allegedly have ties to the Genovese crime family.
-Jamie Quelli and Seth Dolled spent nearly half a million dollars in construction and brewery equipment costs before applying for a liquor license.
-They brewed 3000 gallons of beer without having a license. They were ordered to destroy this beer, but 1500 gallons of it "disappeared".
-The ABC repeatedly asked for source information on the money used to open the brewery and continually got evasive answers. When it finally came to light that Jamie Quelli's money came from an illegal source (her father), she paid them back immediately and got a loan from Seth Dolled's parents.
-Seth Dolled has been disqualified from holding a license on grounds of "moral turpitude" due to his dismissal from his NJ Waterfront job and connection with Jamie's father, Joseph Quelli. He can have nothing to do with the brewery until mid-2016 when he can apply to be employed by them with approval from the ABC. By mid-2018, he can apply to have his disqualification lifted and legitimately be an owner in the business.
-The $300k Seth Dolled put into the business is supposed to be returned to him, but since this would cause irreparable harm to the business, this has been put on hold pending the lifting of his disqualification in 2018.

Below this is conjecture based on the facts above.
-Jamie Quelli and Seth Dolled knew full well that they would have problems getting their license approval. They invested so much in the business so that they could turn around and say, "Well, we've already put so much money into this. You can't shut us down now." Ultimately, this worked.
-Despite Director Halfacre's conclusions on page 1-40, he proceeded to grant them a temporary license anyway. His "flip" from beginning to end is curious. He goes from saying that it's not the ABC's fault that they spent so much money to not only granting their license on special conditions, but giving them a three year hiatus before they even have to consider removing Seth Dolled's $300k from the business.
-If Seth Dolled's money is tainted and he got the money from his parents, how is Jamie Quelli's money not tainted?
-Waste disposal in NJ has a long history of having mafia ties. It's not a stretch to think that the other 1500 gallons were not destroyed either. Even if this didn't happen, it's still very likely that they profited from the first 1500 gallons anyway.
-As a lifelong NJ resident and member of the NJ beer scene, this just stinks to all high heaven. It's a slap in the face to every other NJ brewery that has started their business the right way. Had Forgotten Boardwalk not muscled their way into getting a license, the business would have never gotten off the ground. Now they're taking away space from every other brewery that's available in NJ.

Again, no ax to grind. It's just disturbing that this happening in the beer business in NJ in 2015.