Millionaire to Relinquish Control of Raceway

OXON HILL, Md. —  Multimillionaire developer Mark Raymond Vogel, who was arrested last week on a cocaine charge, plans to relinquish day-to-day fiscal control of Rosecroft Raceway, according to the track’s general manager.

James Murphy, who also is Rosecroft’s president, said he will assume daily control of the track’s finances. He spoke after a Thursday meeting between Maryland Racing Commission officials and Daniel Sandler, vice president and treasurer of Rosecroft.

Vogel owns Rosecroft, in Oxon Hill, and Delmarva Downs in Ocean City, Md.

Meanwhile, court records show Vogel owes the federal government more than $600,000 in income taxes, and that he is enmeshed in a tangle of financial difficulties that may threaten the future of his real estate and racing empire.

Thursday’s meeting came as legislators and racing officials expressed renewed concern Vogel might use funds from the race tracks to shore up faltering real estate projects.

“I think they would like to isolate the race track from Mark’s other ventures,” Murphy said.

Because Vogel has not been actively involved in Rosecroft’s operations since he bought the track in December, 1987, Murphy said, the move will not disrupt the track’s day-to-day operations.

State records show that the two tracks lost $1.2 million for the year ending Sept. 30, 1989.

Vogel, 42, a real estate speculator, was arrested in Fairfax County after an investigation by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

Charged with possession of four grams of cocaine, which is worth about $400, Vogel was released on $10,000 bond and will plead not guilty to the felony charge, according to his attorney, Plato Cacheris.