Saturday, August 22, 2020

CPA Accused of Embezzlement

A well-known Jackson geologist claims his CPA embezzled several hundred thousand dollars from a company they own together.  Charles Williams, Jr. made the allegations in a lawsuit filed against William Nation, CPA in Hinds County Court yesterday.

Williams and Nation created Nation-Williams, LLC to buy mineral rights from a third party.  The two men each owned half of the company.   The company agreed to purchase two companies and their mineral rights in December 2015.

Nation-Williams borrowed $1.3 million from Bankplus to finance the acquisition.  The loan increased to $2.27 million on March 1, 2018.  Mr. Williams put up the sole collateral for the lender although both men signed a personal guaranty for the loan.  However, Nation "pledged" his half-interest in the company to Williams as collateral for the loan.  The complaint states Williams paid over $800,000 to Bankplus while Nation allegedly has did not pay a dime. Williams argues Nation is thus liable for $400,000.

The plaintiff accuses the defendant of lining his pockets at the expense of their company.  The company rents office space from a building owned by Nation.  Nation is also the CPA for Nation-Williams.  He began charging the company $7,602 per month for accounting services  in January 2016.  The complaint claims:

13. As part of the purchase of the limited liability companies, Nation-Williams assumed an American Express Card of those limited liability companies. From and after January, 2016 Nation used the American Express Card for personal expenses and, upon information and belief, Nation used money of Nation-Williams to pay for such charges.

14. In connection with another investment Nation-Williams enter into, Williams used $1.2 million personal funds to pay down indebtedness that Nation-Williams owed to First Commercial Bank. This indebtedness was personally guaranteed by both Nation and Williams.

15. Beginning July 2016 for a period of several months, Nation randomly wrote checks to himself from the Nation-Williams account in an amount in excess of $67,000. The exact amount to be determined upon receipt of an accounting.
Williams claims Nation owes $214,000 in company funds that he paid to himself.

The lawsuit asks the Court to order an accounting of all funds.  Nation allegedly refused to provide the accounting.  Williams claims the amount of the money withdrawn from the company is unknown.  The complaint charges Nation with breach of fiduciary duty, negligence, fraudulent misrepresentation, unjust enrichment, and conversion.

Williams also asked the Court to order Nation to pay him half of the $2 million repaid  to Bankplus and First Commercial Bank.

The case is assigned to Hinds County Circuit Judge Winston Kidd.  Attorneys Philip Buffington, Jr. and Austin Stewart of Adams & Reese represent Williams.


26 comments:

Anonymous said...

Does the geologist have a rock solid case against the gold digger?

Anonymous said...

Tell me Shad White found the embezzlement.

Anonymous said...

It's just debits and credits! What could go wrong?

Anonymous said...

I'ne always wondered how our local geologists could find oil and natural gas under our Yazoo clay.
But I'm not a geologist.

( Although I did collect rocks & fossils when I was about eight years old).

Moreover, I never really had a negative view about accounts until I started paying taxes.

But that's beside the point.
This sounds more like two dudes pissed at each other for deeper reasons.

I think Shad might have a few more important investigations on tap.



Anonymous said...

4:49, this is a private matter, not public. Shad wouldn't have jurisdiction over this one......

Anonymous said...

Winston Kidd will get around to it in 2047 or so. He doesn’t like to work nor does time matter to him so cases just sit in legal pergatory.

Anonymous said...

I know this is a civil case but will this white collar crook go to jail?

Anonymous said...

Wondered why Nations house went up for sale

Cee Pee A said...

Money goes in, money goes out. Never a miscommunication. You can't explain that. You can explain why the money goes in…Yeah, see, the dollars — the money comes in and it goes out, Just like the tides. It always comes in…

Scorned said...

Sounds like a relationship gone south

Anonymous said...

I have personally known Mr Williams for over 40 years as my family has done oil deals with him and Vaughey/Vaughey for years. You will never meet a finer man than Charlie Williams with regards to business and life in general. He is a man of stout integrity and honor so there has to be some merit to his suit as Mr Nations may have taken advantage of an older man dealing with serious medical problems. Power of attorney can be a dangerous thing if one party has serious medical issues that the other partner can exploit. Shame on Bill for allegedly taking advantage of Charlie and all the success that he has had. Note: in addition to all his success in the oil business in Mississippi..,he was one of the original investors:founders of FNC in Oxford that made many Mississippians millionaires.

Anonymous said...

Is Winston a member of the Henry Wingate esteemed School of Procrastination?

Pocket Protector said...

I ain't real smart, but, lemme see if I got this right:

Number 1 man and Number 2 man are friends and enter into a business arrangement. Number 1 man puts up all the money and makes payments on business loans. Number 1 man lets number 2 man, with no skin in the game, handle the books, write the checks and audit his own credik kards, checkbook and company balance sheet.

Along comes Number 1 man, at this late date, to suspect there's an accountant in the woodpile. Number 2 man asks, "What woodpile?" Do I have that sorta right?

Anonymous said...

Geologist versus CPA over a fight about who owns what and who owes what. They could both save thousands of dollars by just going to arbitration. Sounds like the geologist is being had by a trial lawyer.

Anonymous said...

Ten paces, turn and throw rocks at each other.

Bean counter said...

That’s a mighty swank house the CPA has for sale. Even has an elevator. Counting other people’s coins must pay well.

Anonymous said...

i've known both for 30+ years. charlie williams is as fine a person as you will ever know, a real gentleman, honest and humble. the other is short and prissy. i am stunned that charlie got into business with him, probably just picking up a stray trying to help him out. i'm just surprised that it took this long for somebody to pop this guy....

Anonymous said...

The suggestion for a private arbitration is a good one. Use the AAA. Arbitration can result in a judgment to enroll in the courts. This mess should not play out in public.

Anonymous said...

Why not play it out in public? If Nation did what Williams said he did, having it all on the public record may keep him from doing it all over again to someone else.

Anonymous said...

Nothing more to this unless, this CPA has done this before and has a trail of destruction following him...Anyone remember Lamar?

Anonymous said...

Clearly any respected CPA accused of anything is innocent. After all, Shad the First made much over having several respected CPA firms verifying all of Uncle Sugar's COVID-19 money would go to help the intended in full measure, so respected CPAs would never, ever do anything untoward. No fear, the check's in mail, this will hurt me more than you, and I won't come in your...well, you know.

Anonymous said...

Link to the house for sale?

Anonymous said...

Why would this matter ONLY IF "this CPA has done this before and has a trail of destruction following him"?

InsertSarcasmHere said...

7:49 - You might not want to cast stones. You might want to read up on Adams and Reese. They are not trial lawyers unless they have to be. But you know, just throw out that conjecture. I'm sure someone will come out to play with you.

Anonymous said...

10:53 - Sounds as if you've got it all figured out. You're the perfect candidate to be excluded from a jury, if there were to be one.

Anonymous said...

So the guy with the most to lose gave control of the bank account to guy with nothing to lose. What could go wrong? $7k/mo for simple bookwork on a company with less than $10m in assets? Where can I get this job?



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