A 2022 fraud indictment against an award-winning Central Texas barbecue restaurant has been dismissed. La Barbecue announced that all charges against its owner, Ali Clem, have been officially dropped, bringing a nearly decade-long struggle to an end.
Clem and her late wife, LeAnn Mueller, who together co-owned the East Austin restaurant until Mueller’s death in 2023, were accused of defrauding an insurance company for some $350,000 as part of a workers compensation incident. The case, which centered around a backdated insurance policy, was dismissed due to insufficient evidence, according to a release.
“For seven years, this case cast a shadow over everything we’ve worked for,” Clem said in a release. “Today’s dismissal is a full vindication, and I’m incredibly thankful to District Attorney [Jose] Garza and his team for giving our case the attention and fairness it deserved.”…