This wasn’t “shady,” this was essentially a sting operation where they eventually seized 90 million dollars in cash and arrested over 100 people. Not bad. The bigger result was that it poisoned trust of banks by there kinds of criminals.
This person had his motel all paid off. So the Government decided to size it because they could sell it. He fought them off, barely:
https://www.wbur.org/news/2012/11/14/tewksbury-motel-owner-f...