The Eastbrooke Condominium Association accused Ridgway Lane and the Lanes of stealing over $500,000 from various accounts and cd's in a lawsuit filed today in Rankin County Circuit Court.
Nine other homeowners associations sued Ridgway and the Lanes (new moniker? Sounds like a group) since November 7, alleging they embezzled millions of dollars from accounts managed for the HOA's. The list of alleged victims include homeowners associations from such prestigious neighborhoods as Bridgewater, the Barrington, and The Palisades. Secretary of State records state that Richard Ridgway and David L. Lane are the owners of the company. The company website stated David L. Lane and David W. Lane are the respective President and Vice President of the company.
The story is familiar to JJ readers. The HOA trusted Ridgway and the Lanes to establish and manage its accounts and cds. The defendants instead allegedly treated the HOA as a pigeon and proceeded to help themselves to Eastbrooke money. The complaint accuses the Lanes of absconding with funds from various accounts:
* $183,887 in a CD at Bankplus
* Over $200,000 from Community Bank operating and reserve accounts
* Trustmark CD of $84,182 disappeared
Eastbrooke says over $500,000 disappeared from various sources controlled by the Lanes. The various HOA's accuse Ridgway and the Lanes of stealing well over $1.733 million. The Lanes are accused of embezzling from the following HOA's:
Bridgewater 2: $343,938
Bridgewater: Over 500,000
Dinsmor: $217,782
Barrington: Hundreds of thousands of dollars (An estimate of $200,000 will be used in the total as a minimum).
Bruenburg: $188,330
Oakhurst: $168,000
Diplomat: $28,000
Palisades: $87,000
The case is assigned to Judge John Emfinger.
Earlier Ridgway Lane posts
Oakhurst sues Ridgway Lane
Payroll company sues Ridgway lane
Ridgeway Lane Update, TRO's Extended (Lynch Mob Edition)
Bruenburg Sues Ridgway Lane
St. Ives Escapes
Add Stonebridge to Ridgway Lane List
King Kenny Rulz, Bridgewaters get freeze.
Lawsuit: Lane Confessed
Dinsmor losses over $200,000
On deck: Bruenberg
Up next: The Barrington.
Bridgewater goes for freeze, Bridgewater at Old Agency says RL embezzled over $340,000
Palisades plundered.
Dinsmor HOA discoveres "irregularitites."
Bridgewater accuses HOA manager of embezzlement.
27 comments:
The authorities had better seize their passports ASAP.
Why do these homeowners associations need to have so much money to begin with?
Condos- like Eastbrook - are likely to face larger losses than regular HOAs, since condos are required to hold large reserve funds to handle replacement of roofs, repainting of exteriors, etc.
Without these reserve funds, the owners of the units are going to have a problem selling them due to lenders being unwilling to finance.
(This is Eastbrook 1. Should we assume Eastbrook 2 is coming soon?)
More like Eastbroke, amirite?
On previous posts it has been stated multiple times that financial crimes take more time to investigate. This is not the first case of missing CD’s. How hard is it to track those and know a crime was committed? The DA can add to charges as necessary. WHY aren’t they moving on SOMETHING?!? The amount of theft in this case is becoming comical. These jokers should be sitting in a CELL!!!
Now that we know McHenry scated, these clowns will probably scate as well.
Has the timespan of the embezzlement been determined? I bet Richard has been looking into this. Innocent or not, he will be drug into this boondoggle.
All these hoas have e&o policies
They will be fine
Richard Ridgway should be arrested now
HOA has to have money not only for month to month expenses but maintain a reserve fund. The sub divisions affected have club houses, tennis courts, pools and common amenities for their residents. All of them have anticipated ( and unanticipated) repairs that need to be done in a timely manner without seeking extra funds from the home owners. The fully gated neighborhoods have even larger balances as they are responsible for maintaining their streets ( and streetlights)
@5:43- I don’t see how Ridgway skirts involvement in this fiasco. There was literally a business filing with Secretary of State on 8/28/19 reclassifying him from a “member” to a “manager.” A manager is not a silent title; it’s actually a pretty active title. There’s no way a manager can claim to be removed from the operations of the business. He must bear some responsibility/liability.
Scate? Your skills are so weak you can't spell f'ing skate?
The are some blue hairs at the Eastbrook standing skrate up
Richard Ridgeway hasn't been connected to Ridgeway-Lane for many years. Long ago he asked to have his name removed and was asked to wait due to the cost of signage changes. Ridgeway was a nice guy and conceded even though he was out.
Richard Ridgeway is Exhibit A for "No good deed goes unpunished."
Ridgway will be indicted
And conceited is how you spell it....but you are right
Community Bank again......
I am a retired special agent-supervisor with experience investigating financial crimes.
They are very complex with one victim, let alone 10+ victims (HOAs). There are dozens of witnesses who need to be interviewed, along with detailed reports of those interviews.
Subpoenas and/or search warrants need to be served on the financial institutions. All records obtained need to be collated, analyzed and then memorialized in reports.
Records need to be obtained from all HOA victims.
The exact losses for 10+ victims has to be determined. It's not sufficient to say "about $100,000" is missing.
A forensic auditor needs to go through all financial records and then memorialize the findings in detailed/complex reports.
All of this has to be done before it can be presented to a grand jury, and that has to be done in such a way so a layman can understand all of this.
Be patient, grasshopper.
KF, you might look into how banking deregulation has made this sort of crime easier.
It would once have been impossible for the bank to transfer these funds without the "owners" getting notice.
The irony is that now the computer age has made it much easier for banks to monitor accounts and do their fiduciary duty than it was decades ago.
De-regulation has also made the old S&L scandal decades ago, legal. We have not done what was needed to avoid the mistakes that led to the 2008 disaster either in banking or on Wall Street.
The real swamp in D.C. is populated by incompetents we elect who keep legalizing that which was illegal for good reason. And, this is an example of how it filters down to Main Street.
Ridgway defrauded me at Lost Rabbit. Not at all surprised.
Who was “the” banker? David(s) Lane is a modern day John Wesley Hardin.
Hey Richard - I mean 9:13
Keep telling that story. If you say it enough someone might believe it.
For your sake, I hope it’s someone on your jury.
But we all know the truth. And soon, so will the judge and jury.
But keep repeating it.
Lots of disgruntled Lost Rabbit property owners venting here!
Lost Rabbit - the Edsel of subdivisions, or is it the Pinto?
4:42 is right.
Invest and make money: "I am brilliant!"
Invest and lose money: "I was cheated!"
Richard Ridgway, the former manager of record of Lost Rabbit Development, LLC...yea, that's who I would want to manage my HOA. Not.
Sometimes you need to back up and punt and realize that living large has some drawbacks.
Don’t keep up with the crowd at the private schools.
Don’t go to a church just because it has influential people. Go to be influenced by scripture.
Scale down and live within your means. But it looks like a lot of people here cannot do that. It will eventually kill you or cause you to have to use viagra. Or worse...you will need to locate that cool discreet entrance at the Barrington to get your younger sweetie in so nobody will see you and tell your wife who is trying to keep up with everyone and who is making you work your ass to the bone! LOL!!!
Banks do not have any duty to "Let the HOA know" if money is being moved around by a party that has authority given to them by the HOA.
If you open a checking account and put your son or daughter on it and they take out money from it, which they are legally allowed to do if they have been added to the account, then why is it the banks fault is they took a boat load of money out and had a bender in Vegas? It is ultimately all of the owners of the account to check in on those that have the authority to use the account.
Shame on all of these HOAs that did not request bank statements. BOTTOM LINE!
8:20 pm
You clearly are not in the legal business or the banking business.
Ever get a fraud alert from your bank? Suspicious activity alert?
Ridgway wiring huge sums between HOAs is a warning flag. The bankers know it.
Stop spewing misinformation and shaming victims.
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