Lamar Adams lived it up as a big-cat Ole Miss football booster while his recruiters swindled the elderly out of millions of dollars in phony timber investments as part of a Ponzi scheme. Adams gave hundreds of thousands of dollars in ill-gotten gains to Ole Miss. So says the Court-appointed receiver in a report submitted to the U.S. District Court in S.E.C. v. Lamar Adams yesterday.. Receiver Allyson Mills also reported she is gearing up for a fight to recover millions of dollars in commissions from Michael Billings and William McHenry. She identified more recruiters that sold phony shares and put them on notice she intends to recover their commissions as well.
The SEC accused Lamar Adams of operating a Ponzi scheme that defrauded 150 investors out of more than $85 million since 2005, in a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court on April 20. The SEC said Adams sold bogus timber rights and deeds guaranteeing 13% interest rates. Mr. Adams pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to one count of wire fraud. The Justice Department said in that case Adams defrauded 250 investors of more than $100 million. The Court postponed sentencing for Adams since he is cooperating with the government.
U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves appointed attorney Alysson Mills to be the receiver in the case. She will recover assets, distribute them among the victims, and provide progress reports to the court. The receiver created a website that will provide updates on her progress. The website is Madisontimberreceiver.com. Ms. Mills must file a report with the Court every sixty days.
The receiver in the Lamar Adams ponzi scheme case sued to recover over $16 million in commissions from several "promoters" in U.S. District Court on October 1. The promoters allegedly helped Adams sell his phony timber investments to unsuspecting investors. Prominent among the defendants is former Lord Snow employee Mike Billings although Lord Snow is prominently mentioned in the complaint. Ms. Mills also sued William McHenry and Terry Kelly as well as companies they owned.
Ms. Mills reported that Kelly will "agree to a proposed settlement" that returns commissions earned through the sale of the phony timber assets to the receiver. However, Mr. McHenry did not agree to a settlement. The receiver played hardball and told the story of a man who swindles the elderly:
Many of McHenry’s investors were elderly retirees. On information and belief, he met some of them in older adult Sunday school classes. McHenry cultivated relationships with these individuals by visiting them, praying with them, bestowing gifts on them—even taking them hunting when they could no longer go by themselves. These individuals could not afford to risk their life savings on purported timber investments, but McHenry gained their trust and then took their money. It is alleged that in one instance, McHenry, after learning at church that one couple was suffering financial difficulties, presented himself as an answer to their prayers. Allegedly, he told the couple that God had led him to contact them. These individuals have been devastated by this Ponzi scheme. The stress as negatively impacted their health, and some struggle now to pay for basic necessities....McHenry allegedly recruited twenty investors and earned commissions of $3.473 million. He even shared a small office with Lamar Adams. Needless to say, the receiver didn't believe that he would have missed the "stacks of fake documents that littered the office."
The list of Madison Timber recruiters is far from complete. Ms. Mills said there were more recruiters and "even sub-recruiters." New notices have been issued to the recruiters as their identities are discovered.
Ironically, Henry sued Adams in Madison County Circuit Court for $10 million and claimed he was duped.
The receiver stated Adams gave gifts worth at least $213,000 to his family. He gave gifts $402,100 to the Ole Miss Athletic Foundation over the last ten years. Ole Miss refunded to the receiver $38,667 for ticket packages for the 2018 and 2019 football and baseball seasons upon demand. However, Adams' benevolence did not end with the red and blue but extended to several ministries:
American Freedom Assembly: $25,200
Berachah Church: $100,649
Operation Grace World Ministries: $16,100
R.B.Thieme, Jr., Bible Ministries: $130,649
Century Club Charities, Inc.: $56,350
He also gave money to the Trump campaign ($1,400), Mississippi Children's Home Services ($1,400), NRA ($945), and the Wounded Warrior Project ($120).
The report states that the Adams' home on St. Andrews drive is subject to seizure by the government. He purchased it in 2011 for $364,000 but it was appraised two years ago for $777,000. Adams agreed to surrender the home. His wife owns a condo in Oxford that was purchased in 2013 for $135,000. The condos is being appraised.
There are assets of $2.125 million in the receiver's account. Her fees and expenses were nearly $81,000.
The receiver has been unable to reach a settlement with Billings and is suing him to recover his commissions of over $3 million. The original complaint makes it clear that Mike Billings was a star recruiter for the Ponzi scheme. Billings' former employer, Lord Snow, doesn't escape the receiver's notice. She stated:
Billings became a recruiter for Madison Timber by no later than 2012, while he was employed by Butler Snow Business Advisory Services, LLC (“Butler Snow”). Madison Timber paid Butler Snow a monthly retainer for “strategic business development, strategic financing/capital strategies and overall management advisory” services. Butler Snow and Billings introduced Madison Timber to potential investors and Madison Timber paid Butler Snow and Billings a “success fee” when an investor invested.Billings also was the financial "guru" at Butler Snow and was thus "paid to understand" the business of Madison Timber. The complaint also states that Billings and MDB Group received Madison Timber commissions of $3.5 million between 2013 and 2018. Attorney Andy Taggart represents Billings.
In December 2013, Billings left Butler Snow for the prospect of recruiting new investors to Madison Timber fulltime. Adams agreed to pay Billings 2%, and later 2.5%, of each dollar of each investment made by an investor that Billings personally recruited. In addition, Madison Timber paid Billings a fee of $10,000, and later $12,500, a month. These agreements were honored until the collapse of the Ponzi scheme in April 2018.
Among Adams’s “bird dogs,” Billings was a standout. On information and belief, when Adams met Billings in 2012, Madison Timber had annual investments of approximately $15,000,000. With Billings’s help, the Ponzi scheme ballooned. Billings targeted large investors in Texas and California, often dropping certain investors’ names to attract new investors. On information and belief, Billings personally “booked” more than $80,000,000 in investments in 2017 alone. Billings was always hunting for “more, and more and more!!”
Ms. Mills hired Jackson CPA Kim Hardy of Matthews Cutrer, and Lindsay, P.A. to provide accounting services for the estate.
Earlier Posts
Receiver goes after millions in commissions in timber Ponzi scheme.
Receiver records $2 million.
Lamar Adams Sentencing Postponed
Federal Home Cooking in Lamar Adams Case?
Tree Falls Against Pinnacle in Lamar Adams Case
WSJ Blasts Judge Reeves in Lamar Adams Case
Judge to SEC & SOS: Not so Fast
McHenry sues Lamar Adams, claims he was duped.
A look into how the timber scheme worked.
SEC opposes Delbert's opposition.
SEC wants receiver in Ponzi scheme case, Delbert opposes.
Victim sues Timber Trolls
Lamar Adams pleads guilty.
SEC: Ponzi scheme began in 2004.
Flashback Friday
Clearcutting the timber.
Wicker wobbed in Ponzi scheme.
Pinnacle Trust issues statement on Ponzi scheme
Lamar Adams waives indictment.
Feds: Lamar Adams took over $100 million in Ponzi scheme.
TIM-BERRR!!!
49 comments:
How is Butler Snow not responsible for some of this?
Anyone?
He purchased it in 2011 for $364,000 but it was appraised two years ago for $777,000.
More than a double in Jackson in 7 years? ROFLMAO Good f'ing luck getting $777k. These appraisers are detached from reality and totally out of the minds.
Sickening. Typical Trumpster. The most corrupt regime in the history of the US.
She could start by taking Billings’s $200,000 Mercedes. Then go for the collection of velvet Gucci slippers, then move along to the Louis Vuitton handbags ...that’s a start at reducing the debt
All that money, part of which was to buy players and whores, and they still suck. At least DickWad continuously and generously gives and is held in high esteem by the pandering locals.
Lamar did renovate his house but it still looks like an old Ramada Inn.
Usually the only winners in these things is the lawyers. Tough spot for Ole miss and the large charities he gave money to. But they will be fine. It’s the smaller charities that will really lose. It’s not their job to investigate the source of all their donations, but they will still get screwed on the deal.
When Scruggs was being sentenced, Ole Miss officially stated in writing that Dickie Scruggs was one of the finest people they knew. So is Lamar Adams second on the list of finest alums? And what does that say about all who received degrees?
Mike Billings tried to swindle me. For someone who couldn’t get enough of the public eye and loved being seen with the rich and famous, he sure has gone in to hiding. He is a crook.
4:08, Don’t be so hard on the Flagship. Remember, they have a nationally famous sociology professor.
Will they recover from the fundamentalist churches and the radical right wing political causes?
Ole Miss is going to name the Meeks Building to Lamar Adams.
"The Adams Family" 2018 version.
When is the next yard sale at the Adams' home? Early birds want to know.
If he gave to Ole Miss, it's for the children.
Baker Donelson?
Jon Seawright?
Brent Alexander?
WTF?
There are other ‘salesmen’!
@5:31 PM = troll
Maybe Ole Miss can pay the money back by selling timber rights to the Grove.
@8:08=Butler Snow employee.
3:33, and how many billion did the previous administration cost taxpayers for the benefit of Obama’s green energy buddies. And how about the uranium deal approved by his Secretary of State? Why do Democrats seem to ignore the corruption of their own.
Sad to read about McHenry and the older adult sunday school classes. I know where Lamar and Vicki Lynn do to church. What about McHenry?
I don’t know what my friend just posted while using my phone, but please ignore if it posted by my google account. She had my phone & I discovered I was logged in. I hope it wasn’t bad after too many martinis. I know nothing about this story, so I don’t want my business name posted. Thank you
@8:43=Baker Donaldson employee
There was a noteworthy court order involving McHenry 35 years ago. The boy just never could behave. If he's in church, he's got a bag over his head.
Anyone who lives in the suburbs and suddenly purchases and renovates a home in CCJ and begins to shmooze with the old money is automatically suspect. Posers are scam artists.
3:11 pm houses in CCJ are priced according to location,condition and square footage. On Saint Andrews Dr there are house in the $800,000 to $900,000 range.
You could have, of course, bothered to check before spewing your venom, but that would require you to be a decent person.
McHenry is just a regular ole Hugh Freeze. Peddling the word of God for his own gain.
To KF and all of the other Clanga MS State redneck crybabies that frequent this blog: stop whining cause you ain’t getting that money back from Ole Miss. BTW, Fitzgerald sux and it’s now so obvious that Dan Mullen was way too good for Starkville and Bulldog nation (good luck fixing the downward spiral of your football program).
4:46, I don't believe Adams is an alum. He just wanted to be a part of the ruling class, just like so many other pretenders that have over crowded the grove over the last two decades.
Adams did not go to college.
9:00, "downward spiral"? Ironic since you are a shark head or what ever the most current nickname. Maybe Cheater U. What trajectory is the Cheater U. program experiencing?
Mullen, a good coach? Sure. When was the last time a coach at Cheater U. was hired away?
3:11 pm houses in CCJ are priced according to location,condition and square footage. On Saint Andrews Dr there are house in the $800,000 to $900,000 range.
No shit? Location, condition, square footage? LMAO
Ain't getting a double out of Adam's house and you ain't getting anything near the appraisal. You can BS otherwise but that is all it is. BS.
The true fair market value of a house is what it sells for. Appraisers, whom typically work under the umbrella of both lenders and R/E agents, have an incentive to conduct overvaluations of all real estate. Said overvaluations are leading to unaffordable housing. The rate increases will slow the frenzy down as mortgage payments will steadily go up, giving prospective buyers less house for the same amount of debt if not more as several years ago.
Only because of cheap credit driven by loose monetary policy have houses been so wildly overvalued in such a short period of time. It’s not a sellers market. It’s a speculative bubble market that will slowly grind to a hault therby bringing speculative valuations down. A housing “correction” is in order.
If it all comes crashing down again, appraisers will be one of the first on the blame list.
I wonder if the appraiser's palms are greasy? Asking for a friend.
Help me out here. Did this man, who never attended OLE MISS contributed more to the school than he did to his children? Either he knew the HAMMER was coming down, or he had an inferior complex from having an "Indianola Academy" "degree" or was trying to buy his way into the "Country Club of Jackson" elite. It is beyond me me to imagine why educated people (College, Law school, Med. School Graduates, Etc) fell for this B.S. (Out of greed).
Me thinks the NCAA has some more work to do!
I hope the receiver puts more "bird dog" names in her pleadings. There are plenty more folks than just the bigger fish that were out selling this thing. Although, I think there are still some big fish who have not been named for their sins yet. Paragraphs 31 & 32 in the report are daggers with potentially far-reaching impact if knowledge of this spread very far (which, I'm sure it did). Also, there's a special place in hell for people like McHenry (See paragraph 38).
Finally, some righteous moralizing from Oktibbeha County. Shoot it right in my veins.
Good work, 8:52. You managed to spell Oktibbeha correctly. Now if we can get you to spell Mullen without adding that pesky 's'.
So,are Seawright & Alexander in the clear?
Does the receiver know about Lamar's luxury condo on Gulf Shores? Asking for a friend.
Is he the guy who gave Leo Lewis the $10,000 ? asking for a friend
Who was/is Wicker's contact?
Your "asking for a friend" is getting really old. That phrase went out with your Members Only jacket.
11:33, There is no longer any need for us to learn to spell Mullen just like there is no longer any need for you to learn to spell So Young Kim.
Who is Lord Snow?
My Members Only jacket is next to my black Converse sneakers on the passenger seat of my '64 'vette. Eat your heart out.
Posted at the request of a friend.
Kingfish: Please don't tell me you have a Cannon Motors sticker on your trunk or tailgate.
Mr. Adams went to Delta State. Completed 3.5 semesters. This comes from someone who knows.
The North remembers.
The promoters that are not being sued must have made a settlement with the receiver or are at least working with the receiver to avoid being sued.
In other words, paying back the money they made.
Read the documents. There is no way Billings could pay back his take of this. He was the biggest promoter by far.
So he gets sued.
Seawright and Alexander sold a small amount in comparison.
That's what I'm supposing.
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