A Rankin County jury indicted suspended attorney Mike Brown on August 12 on four counts of embezzlement in the guardianship of D'Mond McClinton. D'Mond McClinton is the grandson of Mississippi civil rights hero Aaron Henry and inherited $3.5 million when his mother died in 2000. Mr. Brown and Thomas McClinton, the father of D'Mon, established a guardianship, as young McClinton was only sixteen years old when his mother passed away.
The indictments allege $1 million "came into the defendant's possession" on February 20, 2001. It states instead of depositing the money into a guardianship account as ordered by the court, Brown allegedly deposited the money into his escrow account. Mr. Brown then "allegedly" wrote two checks to Linus Shackelford for $250,000 and $300,000 in 2001 (copies of the checks are included in the documents posted below). Mr. Brown is a resident of Rankin County and practices law in Flowood. The indictment also "alleges" Mr. Brown embezzled $1,299 in 2001 when he paid for license plate tags in that amount at the Rankin County Tax Collectors office. The McClintons did not live in Rankin County at the time.
The trial began Monday. To say it's been entertaining is an understatement. Judge John Emfinger found Brown in contempt three times and sentenced him to 90 days in jail. Mr. Brown has defended himself throughout the entire trial. He even took the stand in his own defense yesterday. The jury at times even laughed when Mr. Brown spoke.
At issue in the video below is the testimony of Linus Shackelford. Mr. Shackelford owns a cemetery on Lakeland Drive (by Hwy 471). He was trying to obtain a loan from the bank in 2001 when young McClinton inherited his millions. Unfortunately for Mr. McClinton, Mike Brown was the attorney for Mr. Shackelford as well. Soooo...... Mr. Brown and McClinton's father loaned Mr. Shackelford $595,000 out of the guardianship account shortly after it was established. A wrong for two reasons. A minor cannot loan money. Neither the attorney nor father ever got approval from the court to move the money.
These problems and others were brought to Judge Thomas's attention in 2011. He reopened the guardianship and held a series of hearings in 2011 and 2012. Mr. Brown met with Mr. Shackelford three times to discuss the Judge's investigation. Mr. Brown visited Mr. Shackelford's office in early 2012 to discuss an upcoming hearing. However, Mr. Shackelford taped the conversation without Mr. Brown's knowledge. Mr. Brown told Mr. Shackelford how they were going to outfox the Judge. A transcript and the recording are posted below.
Remember the $595,000? The McClinton guardianship held promissory notes for those loans. However, Mr. Brown told Mr. Shackelford he wanted to issue him another promissory note and backdate it to 2001 so the total amount loaned was $1.2 million. Seriously. He told him not to worry about any liability for the extra note because "the statute of limitations had run on it" (p.1). It should be pointed out no deeds of trust were even issued for the loans on the property. Mr. Brown also told Mr. Shackleford he submitted an appraisal to Judge Robinson in 2001 and the judge approved it. Unfortunately for Mr. Brown, the judge said in his testimony that was a "complete fabrication".
Mr. Brown objected when the prosecution introduced the recording into evidence. He claimed the recording was not provided to him in discovery last fall and thus was inadmissable. However, Judge Emfinger told him since he had filed a motion to quash the recording in January 2013, he had the recording and also had ample time to prepare for its defense.
Recording starts at 31:00
Lawyer Michael J. Brown jailed for embezzlement
Judge freezes assets of Brown & Shackelford
Brown free
Judge Thomas sets bond for Brown
Where is the money?
Court to Shack: Do not pass go
Brown in jail
Thomas McClinton: Mike Brown got down on his knees and begged
Judge orders Shackelford to produce money
Mike Brown pays tax collector... in Rankin
McClinton hearing continued
Rankin grand jury indicts Mike Brown
Working on uploading the transcript right now.Having problems uploading it so it might be illegible.
Thursday, August 29, 2013
Brown trial: We got a tape and Brown keeps on talking
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12 comments:
Two crooks talking- on tape. One crook aware of recording, and trying to cover his ass and creating his story. The other crook, not knowing of the recording, digging his grave deeper. Wonder is Linus has a space reserved for his buddy in the 7.5 acres? Wonder if Mike has a pre-need policy with Linus? If so, might have to be paying up on it soon before the SOS takes it away, but he won't have to dig the hole because Mike's digging it deeper every day.
Wonder if Dewayne's going to get a chance at Brown soon? Emfinger might have him in jail for so long that Dewayne will be retired before he gets a chance at his friend.
Lots of wondering - but one thing for sure. No question why Brown wanted this tape quashed - trumps the theft, the cover-up, and all his "professional" liabilities.
Shackelford and Brown are the 2 dirtiest scumbags to walk Gods earth. Mike got his, but Shackelford leaves emboldened to continue his satanic ways. A true devil on earth.
$1.2 million loan on a cemetery?????? WTH???? That like getting $90,000 loan for a used car. The loan was taken with no intent to pay it back. He saw a young black boy he could screw. At least half went down today.
Linsu Shackleford is the new mark seepe...what a goul to steal money from a kid...wonder what he does to the dead in his cemetery...scum
Shackelford's only crime was trusting a lawyer he should not have trusted. The evidence shows that Shackelford did not know he was borrowing from a minor's estate. He recorded the conversation because Brown was trying to get him involved in a cover up. The tape shows that he did not allow Mike Brown to corrupt him.
So Im guessing Shackelford is now an upstanding member of the community for cooperating with investigators? When exactly will he be held responsiblw for the money he received?? What about the Dad? One down...but many more that need to be held responsible
$1.2 million loan for that Cemetery!!! That's the worst business plan on earth. Dont' look like he will be getting an RV anytime soon. This deal is worse than that Rez project.
I wonder if he raided the perpetual care fund to pay his bills? i'll check with the Secretary of State and get back with the blog.
The commenter at 4:26 is Linus. And I'm pretty sure that tape was staged.
Hey Linus, Your "only" crime was trusting a lawyer you should not have trusted? (BTW, that is a redundant statement, but I digress).
Even if you restrict that statement to only this deal, the one with Demon, that statement exemplifies your belief about your life.
You didn't know that you were borrowing from a minor's estate?
Then why, in your self-serving statements (on your tape) did you say that you asked several times to meet with Demon? You, knowing that it was being taped, clearly show that you knew it was Demon's money and felt that you needed to talk to him but Dad wouldn't let you.
You borrowed the money and never paid any of it back. You borrowed it from a LLC that you knew was a sham but was done to hid the fact that it came from the estate funds.
Could go on, but bet there will be more on this story before its over and don't need to repeat what has been shown in previous posts.
Shackelford did know where the money was coming from. I personally heard Shackelford and Brown discussing this scam and Shackelford was just as much a thief in stealing this money as Brown. I told them both they were crooks and I removed myself from situation and never looked back.
Shackelford has pulled this scam on several others and he always plays innocent victim. He deserves to be someones jailhouse girlfriend just like Brown.
Kingfish, i hope your blog saves someone else from falling prey to this con artist. Good work.
Mike brown stole one hundred fifty thousand from me carried him to the bar bar did nothing said if u coming here for money u coming to the wrong place
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