The president of Express Grain Terminals told hundreds of customers the grain elevator was in "good shape financially" as the Greenwood company filed bankruptcy.
Express Grain Terminals opened in 2007 and is a major grain elevator for farmers in the Mississippi Delta. Dr. Michael Coleman and his son John Coleman own Express Grain Terminals although John's share is 1%. Express Processing open in 2015 and Express Biodiesel opened in 2018. Express Grain owns the other two companies.
September 28, 2021 was a monumental day for the company. John Coleman sent this email to Express Grain to customers that day:
UMB Bank sued the company for fraud on that day as well in Leflore County Chancery Court. UMB issued a $40 million revolving loan and a $35 million term loan to the defendants. The bank extended the loans several times this year. The bank allegedly caught the company submitting false financial statements. UMB declared Express Grain in default on loans of $71 million And filed a lawsuit. Earlier post.
Express Grain filed a petition for Chapter 11 bankruptcy the next day.
The company reports total liabilities of $106 million in assets of $101 million. However, the company owes another $9 million to farmers. The secured claims are $70 million while unsecured claims are $36 million. Total amount owed to farmers is $41 million. The top twenty unsecured creditors report claims of over $23 million.
The damage does not stop with farmers losing their crops. More than a few banks place liens on harvests when farmers borrowed against them. The bankruptcy means those banks could lose the collateral on those loans.
Some farmers have gone to court to get their harvests back. They accused the bank of keeping the broke borrower afloat just long enough to steal the harvests delivered to the grain elevator without paying for them Earlier post.
17 comments:
When will criminal charges be filed?
happy talk
'The bankruptcy means those banks could lose the collateral on those loans.'
How do you 'lose' collateral when the process allows you to call or seize it? And don't tell me the grain was pledged as collateral by both parties.
This is Mississippi's ENRON, which melted down 20 years ago today.
Wonder if the financials the bank was getting had an emphasis of matter paragraph about the company not being a going concern (ie does not project being in business 12 months after report issuance). If it did the bank should have not been lending out money. Shady stuff going on for sure.
Which local (Mississippi ) banks are at risk?
Not sure how a bank would allow someone to cook the books? Surely, with this much money they would require audited financials from CPA?
Were any of the Financial Statements Audited? If so by which firm?
Why doesn't our illustrious, self-promoting, loud-mouthed Commissioner of Agriculture weigh in on such a significant agri-business matter for the state?
10:21, besides the fact that Enron's meltdown took down one of the nation's largest accounting firms, which this little deal in the Delta is not approaching, you might need to go back and study learning your alphabet.
Enron's bankruptcy was measured with a "b", as in "billion" - this deal is measured with an "m", as in "million".
Yes, you were cute to make the calendar connection, but Mississippi has had several failures, and scams, much larger than this one.
11:39, name one bankruptcy in MS that had such broad reaching effects as ENRON did in not only their employees but the entire energy industry. Also, Ken Lay, similar to Coleman, was touting the health of their respective companies as they were sinking.
"11:39, name one bankruptcy in MS that had such broad reaching effects as ENRON..."
Not 11:39 but if memory serves, and it does, there was a communications company a few in MS may have heard about that may have made an error or two about that same time...
1:29 is correct. The one here is listed as the third largest bankruptcy in US history and was bigger than ENRON
Dollar to a doughnut this guy offs himself(if someone doesn't get to him first). I bet he doesn't have the testicular fortitude to face the music for what he did.
Nope. As has become popular, the old man will take the stand and take the fall for the boy who 'diddun know nuthin'.
One of the claimants to this debacle died in an airplane crash in Paraguay today. RIP HK.
Horne CPA did the audit
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