Jackson Jambalaya

Ooohhhwee I wonder what Councilman Twitterwell has to say 'bout all this.

I saw a big article on him in this month's Northside Sun magazine about what a wonderful man he is. LOL!

He [Whitwell] is also a partner with Meadowbrook Capital investment firm, and he and wife, Ginger, recently developed a technological tool for online fundraising.

The Mississippi Lawyer, VOL> LVII, Winter 2010-2011, No. 2

Wow..unbelieveable. He made all the money thru finders fees, commissions, pocketing due dilligence expenses, ( which he did not perform and don't know why he didn't) and lord knows what other the table fees he got.

Stanford, Morgan-Keegan, WorldComm, now Meadowbrook...a lot of investments have gone south and a lot of money totally lost over greed.

Sad.

Jackson's very on lil' Bernie Madoff....

"...working under his own supervision." That's a funny one.

Wow, thought JJ readers had a better memory than this. Can't believe no one has brought up the connection here.

Comparisons to Madoff are a stretch.... $10K is not that large a fine in the world of FINRA.

Nonetheless, it is a major black mark on his reputation. I bet the First Pres folks are already making excuses.

Wasn't Paris up in the Steadivest?

From the looks of it Whitwell has been very busy scrubbing but the fact remains he jumped into that bed and new sheets won't make it all go away.

I don't know of one person that has made money off Lee's recs. A friend of mine lost a ton of money in his so called...."Shopping Center goldmine" that he pushed....10% while you wait till we sell it.... is what my friend told me. He just flushed $50,000 down the toilet.

Be warned...if any investment sounds too good to be true....it probably is.

Remember when I wrote 18 months ago the SEC came in and did an surprise visit here in Jackson on a firm? Didn't name the firm, did I?

So if you read the order, they were promising nice returns.

What was the market like back then?

No doubt the Mississippi BAR will look the other way.

To give up your license for any time period and to have supervised trade surveillance....well let's just say...its this kiss of death in the broker/dealer community.

Usually ..what happens is ...FINRA wants to see every email, every trade, its mind-boggling.

Most sanctions are for 30 days. For Lee to have it for 180 days...it's a horrible thing. Never seen it ever.

$2.4 Million...down the tubes. Thanks, Lee.

KF..he's no "guru" ...he's very lucky he's not Madoff's cell mate.

HOLY COW! bombshell-- how can that be, the northside sun said his life was devoted/dedicated to christ?? oh wait, i've heard that before.

why did he rip off all those people when his father had plenty of money?

why didn't he just sell stocks and bonds instead of stealing all that money?

Both Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart were born again whatever they claim to be. And the First Prez crowd has more than this to worry about.

I lost $50k in Investlink with him.
I was told wondrous things which turned to dust.

Lee was on the Board of Governors of the NASD when he was selling the Investlink garbage. That gave him the credibility for me to invest with him. Poor assumption on my part.
Then again, the NASD (and its successor FINRA) give colon exams to the honest guys and let the bad guys run free (see Madoff and Stanford).

KF- The real story about Mr Paris is his cash infusion into sinking ponzi Steadivest. Rumor is: he brought over 6 million dollars into the Steadivest family of companies to keep it floating. But for a small commission payment of 1 million dollars to himself for bringing the deal courtesy of Marshall Wolfe. Sadly the Investlink investors whom have lost so much along with the Steadivest group have no idea how Paris and Wolfe fleeced both groups under the table!

KF- Why not post the Steadivest link between Wolfe and Paris?

If you look on the FINRA website, he is and has been licensed ONLY to sell private placements, nothing else. It also says he shut down Meadowbrook Securities, formerly Investlinc Securities and is associated with some obscure firm now.

As a member of Ms Bar, also, I'm sure everyone thought he was above board.

Investlinc, Steadivest, Meadowbrook Securities, who knows what else?

Is there a criminal investigation?

Is there a criminal investigation into this mess?

Investlinc fund - He's listed as promoter for Marshall Wolfe:

http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/vprr/08/9999999997-08-000364

Where's Delbert? Shouldn't he investigate these claims?

Where is Jim Hood? Delbert found Steadivest guilty of Ponzi. Paris is obviously also a fraud. Where is justice protecting the people of MS? White collar financial crimes are crimes no less!

Secretary of State has no criminal authority, so you can bet that office is not taking action because of something else going on.

The Steadivest mess is still in bankruptcy court, and I heard there are fraud charges. Maybe Kingfish mentioned it earlier? Anyway, Lee Paris could very well be under the gun from multiple sources or reasons.

Delbert doesn't have criminal authority...he has regulatory authority. He can shut Lee down in a second. Hood has the criminal authority here. Delbert and FINRA have joint responsibilities to protect the public from this kind of white collar fraud....and they should.

Go to "Broker Check" on FINRA.org and look up other "prominent" Jackson gurus - Steve Wyatt and Hilary Zimmerman.

Jim Hood does not prosecute white collar crime. Delbert has no criminal authority and if the SEC or FINRA is moving against someone, sometimes the SOS will get out of the way if the feds or going to drop the hammer, which they did in this case.

Please take him to jail so we don't have to watch him come survey the pool w/ his greasy slicked back hair at River Hills this summer.

KF - Help me understand, Does Hood's office not prosecute by choice or policy? If his office is not responsible then whom is responsible for white collar crime? thanks...

Steadivest case was referred to AG for criminal prosecution. They have done absolutely nothing. Just they were told about the Fraziers several years ago, and did nothing.

No matter how smooth the salesman people, private placement securities equal one of two things: uncreditworthy project or fraud. Stay away from any nonregistered investment and for goodness sake, don't buy any form of annuity. If you can go for the trifecta and not let your broker sell you loaded mutual funds, you will be even happier in the long run.

Hood doesn't prosecute people who aid and abet murderers either.

So very disappointing Mr. Jim Hood!!!!

"Where is Jim Hood? Delbert found Steadivest guilty of Ponzi. Paris is obviously also a fraud. Where is justice protecting the people of MS? White collar financial crimes are crimes no less!"

OK, the Fraziers, the Bell murderer, Steadivest, and now this - Jim Hood allows criminals to run free in MS.

Remember it is election day next Tuesday - vote for his opponent (Simpson, I think).

Re: 8:30 am
Duh...If your Broker can't sell a loaded mutual fund, then he has to put you in a fee-based program. You pay for advice either way. If you want to go it alone, then why do you have a broker?

Well, since he closed his own broker-dealer, he must not have much going on now. I've never heard of the firm he's "associated" with now.

What's the real story going on here?

Looks like Lee tried to get on with Coker & Palmer, but they gave him the boot after this FINRA thing came up negative for him.

He could not get on with any reputable firm on Wall Street now with that on his blotter...that is why is with this unknown firm.

EACH OF YOU ARE GROSSLY UNDERESTIMATING MR. PARIS. AS LEADER OF MISSION MISSISSIPPI, HE WILL DO THE RIGHT THING AND MAKE THESE INVESTORS WHOLE THAT WERE LED INTO THESE VENTURES. MATERIAL POSSESSIONS ARE NOT IMPORTANT TO HIM.

10:02

You're cheaper paying a fee to an investment advisor who uses no loads than you are to one who doesn't, provided they differentiate on fee basis. You could at least see the pricing difference. Class A & B share loads, as well as 12b-1 fees, eat up so much of the return, even before you get to investment advisory fees. Don't even get me started on proprietary funds, style drift, etc.....

12:52, you left out the retirement plan motherlode of broker payouts (at least outside of the annuities game): target funds. What a bunch of crock those things are.

12:48, if you must comment, please do so without the caps. It's rude. However, telling us lies that Paris will set things straight isn't rude, it's funny.

@12:48..Lol...well said!

12:48 you are a crazed mislead church going punch drinking fool. Mr Paris has done absolutely nothing in the past three years for all of us Investlink victims. Over 6 million dollars gone and all Paris has done is move on to take advantage of more hard working people for the next big commission check!

On the other hand, I also speak sarcasm and good job on calling him out!

12:48 I appreciate heavy sarcasm, but the All-Caps style makes me think you really are a sincere KoolAid drinker.

If the latter I invite you to hold your breath such a time as Mr Paris has reimbursed all his victims.

2:16.how much money did Mr. Paris fleece all told? The Steadivest money, the two sham Med Cap deal total over $8 Million. Is there more money unaccounted for? Just curious.

Investkink loss with Steadivest is just over 6 million. Henderson the bankruptcy trustee would have the exact amount. The kicker is that Paris pocketed a million dollar commission for bringing the money to Wolfe.

"a million dollar commission for bringing the money to Wolfe."

are you kidding me????

So KF, do you predict a criminal investigation at either the state or federal level?

Why else would he give 6 million to a failing business. Steadivest and its family of companies never filed a tax return that showed a profit. Paris and Wolfe should share a jail cell. Both profess Christ to gain credibility and both pray on other peoples hard earned money.

How much more? Check out Meadowbrook properties. Look to see how many entities Lee Paris has.

Robbing from Peter to pay Paul Paris wrote the book on that. Driving around in his baby blue jag. He thinks he is above the rest of us. People like that don't get what they deserve. I wonder how many people showed up to honor him at the Mission Mississippi banquet last Friday night.

Cooler heads need to prevail here. The appropriate sanctioning authority has investigated and acted; each of the investors in these private placements were given memorandums that outlined the investment and the risks involved, and all of the investors had to certify that they were "accredited" investors with minimal net worth and the investment experience to understand the risks involved. This is not a defense for Mr. Paris for his negligence (lack of due diligence) or misrepresentation of the investment; but until fraud is charged, there is no crime.

Also, as an investor in Investlinc Properties myself, the losses are not because of being swindled, but because the real estate owned by those entities got caught in the same bubble that many other properties did. They were over leveraged and when the real estate market bottomed, the lower rents could not support the bank payments and give income to the investors. The properties are still under lease, are still being managed, and could possibly come around in time.

I cannot speak to the other investments "sold" by Mr. Paris, but when I invest in something, I am also responsible for doing my own due diligence. We investors in these programs are not the "little old lady" types who've invested our entire life savings in these. In fact, our attitude should be, "if I can light the money on fire, then I can afford to invest in it." We're supposed to know better.

... but until fraud is charged, there is no crime.

Sure but acknowledging same doesn't mean a crime hasn't been committed nor that Paris' (potential) criminal actions can't or shouldn't be discussed.

Paris screwed up when, according to the regulator, he sold interests AFTER being formally advised that the projects were in default. With most such investments you can't do real due diligence on your own. Private placements are used for two reasons: 1. they cant't get conventional financing and 2. somebody gets paid very, very well up front for selling units/shares.

Correct..6.51 pm..

Lee is a dead man walking.

Where is all the $1 Million dollars commission he earned?

FINRA and Delbert..where are you??

All those investors..whom Lee had a Fudiciary responsibity to them..just got screwed.

Where is the MS BAR? Is there no oversight for attorneys who do these type of deals and no Fudiciary responsibility? What about all those old ladies who trusted him?

This is really a classic model of how someone like LEE circumvented the system for his own economic interests. Its really sad.

Lee..how do you get up in the morning
and look at yourself in mirror?

Surely there will be civil suits and the truth gets flushed out. I don't know if the bar can initiate an investigation on it's own or a complaint has to be filed. In any event, you gotta believe somebody will file. Guy has really bad werewolf hair anyway.Plenty of lawyers out there to jump his ass.

5:31 pm, guys like you make it very easy for guys like Paris. Somehow your rationalization rings shallow. Cooler heads or empty heads? Too good to be true deals? Pigs get slaughtered every day.

Correction,"rings hollow" above.

I don't know if the bar can initiate an investigation on it's own or a complaint has to be filed.

Right, because the only thing the MS BAR is good for is Roman helmet rumba.

Surely the MS BAR can investigate his underhanded dealings here.

At the very minimum..he has violated his oath.

A slick oil salesman like Lee needs
to be dealt with in only one way...and everyone of knows it..prison....you can't go thru life screwing people...he is no better than Bernie Ebbers, Madoff, Stanford..all of them suffer from a condition called...'HUBRIS"

Lee Paris has plenty of money. If I was giving him advise, I would tell him to start paying back the money investors lost in the deals he promoted. He may be ordered to eventually, and even if he is not ordered to it will make him look better to authorities who are not finished with him, and help to preserve the image that he has cultivated. Might make him feel better too.

@9:11..your comments make no sense.

If Lee had "plenty of money"...then why the hell did he rip off off these investors and leave them with nothing?

He's obviously a desperate man...willing to do anything to get a commission check. Greed does strange things to people. It's a fatal character flaw. Why didn't he try to make an honest living..like 99.9% of the people do?

When he's in prison making .35 per hour, he might have a problem paying his investors back.

5:31 wrote:

"Also, as an investor in Investlinc Properties myself, the losses are not because of being swindled, but because the real estate owned by those entities got caught in the same bubble that many other properties did. They were over leveraged and when the real estate market bottomed, the lower rents could not support the bank payments and give income to the investors. The properties are still under lease, are still being managed, and could possibly come around in time."

Please elaborate on your explanation of the fall of Steadivest??

Before I share with you too many specifics I will state there were no bank payments. All the properties Investlink thought they were investing in were free and clear of any lean courtesy of the Steadivest investors money. No bank notes. The properties are cash flowing (now) because the only money owed on them were unpaid taxes in which Henderson has taken care of. I am not trying evoke an argument of whom has 1st right to the properties, Steadivest group or Investlink group.

Your perception of what happened might help those of us close to the company understand why the Investlink goup is not outraged at what Paris did to you all and why there have been no complaints filed.

Now I understand why Wolfe sent me to remodel Investlinc's office and to make sure they were happy.

Well...Hood didn't fail to prosecute because of the party affiliation of the crooks. These weren't Democrats.

Could it be that when it comes to white collar crime, social/family connections and money are more important that partisan loyalty?

Since he has been working feverishly to erase all signs of his relationship with Paris the questions become what did Whitwell know and when did he know it?

Great question, 9:00 am. Whitwell may have some issues and problems that will be eventually exposed if he also
is negligent and compromised his fudiciary responsibility...just like Mr. Paris.

Two questions for Mr. Whitwell ...WHEN did you know that Mr. Paris was fleecing his investors, and WHAT did you know?

As an officer of the company no doubt Quentin will be answering those questions under oath in court.

Paris fleeced my brother-in-law for at least 10K at least ten years ago. He's been trying to get that back since. No telling how many people have been cheated by this scumbag.

If he has been fleecing people for 10 years, like your brother-in-law was, then a pattern exists.

Why doesn't Hood or Delbert Hosemann shut him down?

Mr. Paris is a fine man and a man among men. He has not been charged with anything. He simply got a slap on the wrist for not watching something closely enough. He is very busy with all he is responsible for. So he lost a little money. How many people has he made money for? Give him a break. He is a fine person and does a lot more good than bad.

Did I read correctly in the document that he was selling
new issues (raising capital) that was supposed to go to
new oil and gas properties, but instead he was using some of the new money raised to pay interest/dividend on previously raised securities?

Laughing @ 6:18! From what we know, he has lost over $6 Million...that ain't a 'little money' to most people.

Of course... when you are using other peoples money...instead of your own..now there is where the rubber meets the road here.

What can actually happen to him? I have lost money in investments with him. Ashamed to say amount. He is slick.

6:18 must be related to Mr. Paris. Crooks need to be dealt with in this country from Washington all the way down to Mississippi. That has been one of our biggest problems that this nation faces. If you misrepresent something for money you need to be held accountable for your actions 6 million dollars is a lot of money. And that's what we know about. I would think that when rocks are uncovered there might be more. People under pressure turn on each other. Hard to hide these days. I just have sympathy for some of the people who have been affected by this. I have no sympathy for the greed driven folks who caused it.

Most of men I know don't steal money from clients or misrepresent the investment like Mr. Paris did.

If Investlinc or Steadivest were experiencing financial problems, he should have told everyone about it and STOPPPED selling the investment immediately....something he did not do...the FINRA report says that he did not perform his due dilligence and Mr. Paris agreed with that.

He had a Fudiciary responsibility to perform that function and he failed miserably...that is where he is really in trouble here.

@7.07..hire a good securities lawyer. There are tons here in Jackson due to all the BS with Morgan Keegan, Stanford, Worldcom, Enron...

Looks like a class action lawsuit is looming for Mr. Paris.

Lee Paris and Marshall Wolfe are responsible for a 15+ million dollar ponzi loss! Mississippi leaders stand up with integrity and protect the citizens of this Bible Belt state in which we chose to live and support!

Hood...that includes white collar and cyber crimes!

@7.07..just have your lawyer write a letter and send it to Mr. Paris and request an amount to settle your investment loss.

if he balks, then..your attorney knows what to do next. I don't have to tell him. Its obvious.

Hood...that includes white collar and cyber crimes!

If Paris hits the Powerball for a big payday then Hood will be all over that shakedown with one of his hired mercenaries.

???@8:50...I would only hope. Hood is not looking out for the average MS investor who put hard earned money with Mr. Paris.

I don't know what or how or when he evaluates this type of blatant fraud.

Maybe the feds will figure it out for him.

After reading carefully the JJ article, which is very well presented , it seems clear the Lee Paris was willing to put his clients (high net worth) into investments like Medcap and Provident Asset Management that promised high returns and likely paid high commissions to Paris and Paris didnt bother to visit the companies nor did he bother to get financial statements , nor did he bother to tell his clients that the companies that he was pushing were having liquidity problems.

His relationship with Steadivest is not detailed here but some have alluded that Paris raised a lot of money from his clients to invest in Steadivest , and he was paid very large commissions/fees ,,,


Hope I understood that right....

@9:42..You sir are right on the money.. Mr. Paris is guilty of many infractions of securities law and also guilty of misrepresentions to investors who bought into his scheme to promote Inveslinc and Steadvest.

White collar crime is invasive in this state.

For Mr. Hood and Mr. Hosemann to look the other way.. and I am a sinner..its..illegal and immoral.

What are they waiting for??

9:42 JJ has covered the Steadivest fraud extensively.

The ClarionLedger is coming out with a story on this entire matter. Look for it in the days ahead.

I would hope that after it hits the wires, more people will come forward and give their stories to the press.

No doubt because the C-L doesn't do any original reporting until JJ breaks the story.

Now if Paris was a Democrat the C-L wouldn't report on this story.

The Clarion Ledger? All they do is re-print other's stories, or print one-sided press releases from candidates.

Kingfish...how bout a response from AG's office?

You heard it here first.

There was no firewall between Meadowbrook Capital and Meadowbrook Strategies. There was no firewall between the private investment business and the influence peddling business. The objective of the collaboration from the outset was to mine the client bases of each entity on behalf of the other.

This will come out in court.

Sounds very familiar to Wolfe's strategy regarding..

Steadivest, Steadivest Capital, Steadivest Development, Steadivest Contrarian Fund, Tactical Financial Solutions and MTW.

No wonder Wolfe and Paris so quicky became partners.

I think you mean Chinese wall BTW.

You know its funny, I watched that video of Wolfe praising the investment opportunities in buying residential property in Jackson , then reaping the rentals as a no-lose strategy. From my perspective, wolfe looks and sounds not very sophisticated.
I can not see how anyone could fall for that investment pitch.

as for Lee Paris, I think this will boil down to how honest he was with his 'high net worth' clients. Some of the deals he promoted only involved 15 or so individuals. If he had been honest and direct regarding the risks and businesses that he was investing , that will be the crucial issue. I mean, if he didnt write up a lot of fine print in prospectus ,but spelled it out directly with his clients and they knew these investments were taking a lot of risks to gain a lot of reward. my point is that his clients will ultimately be the ones who tip the scale ,if his actions were fraudelent/ or deeply negligent.

interesting story for sure.

11.2.11 11:55 wrote in response to my post on 11.2.11 5:31:

"Please elaborate on your explanation of the fall of Steadivest??"

I avoided this offering because it did not pass my smell test. The specific properties I was referring to in my post that may still come around were promoted by Mr. Paris, but were marketed as GK Properties. These properties are managed by a Chicago company and other than the issues mentioned in my prior post, may not prove to be a loss to investors like myself.

Furthermore, I was in no way defending Mr. Paris' actions; only responding to the calls for prosecution by entities without the jurisdiction to do so before an investigation has been completed.

11/2 5:31 -11/4 11:16

Again, please clarify your post. You are an Investlink investor via Lee Paris correct? And your losses are not part of the 6 million dollar Investlink / Steadivest loss?

Of your Investkink group where did Paris park yours and others money? How many are in your group and what is the total loss? Also, and most interesting to me is if you all were investing hard money backed by properties, properties that had bank notes, then why did they need private capital paying out above average returns? Smells funny...please explain the business model as presented to you from Paris?

I wonder how GQ Lee will look in Orange?

How many other people left Lee's firm when all of this surfaced?

Any new updates on mullet haired boy

I wonder if this could be another scam in 2018. Keep your ear to the ground!

Lee Paris is a crook plain and simple. I lost over $350,000 from the Steve. He leverage his personal relationships and proposes to be a “Christian businessman” yet rips off everybody comes into contact with. I have invested in four funds with him and all of them are bankrupt please stay away from him and I will do everything I can to see him go to jail as he deserves.