Thursday, February 24, 2022

FBI Raids Express Grain Prez's Home

 This article is reprinted with the permission of the Taxpayer's Channel. 

Early this morning, armed agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation raided the offices of Express Grain at the oil mill in Greenwood, as well as EG President John Coleman's home on Robert E Lee Drive. 

The FBI executed search warrants at the oil mill and at the house.

Mr. Coleman was present at his home when the agents, said to number "close to a dozen," appeared to conduct the search. It was still in progress at 11:30 this morning. Mr. Coleman left soon after the FBI arrived.

The agents were taking photographs and hauling away boxes of items. Most of the agents appeared to come from Northeastern Mississippi.

The involvement of the FBI indicates that some violations of federal law are under investigation.

UMB Bank has leveled allegations of fraud against EG and Mr. Coleman. They have accused Mr. Coleman of filing numerous falsified reports to UMB Bank indicating repeatedly that EG owned more beans than it actually did, counting beans sold to others as EG's property, for purposes of obtained credit from UMB Bank that it was not entitled to under their loan agreement.

See our reporting here: UMB Bank levels new fraud accusations against John Coleman and Express Grain

Furthermore, UMB Bank claims that the audit report provided to UMB Bank by John Coleman and Express Grain differed substantially from what Horne LLP, the company's auditors, had prepared and provided to Express Grain. This was first discovered, UMB says, when the Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce unsealed copies of Horne LLP's actual audit which it provided to EG originally.

On February 10, 2022, MDAC revoked EG's warehouse licenses based upon this same fraud. See our reporting here: Mississippi Department of Agriculture VOIDS Express Grain warehouse licenses due to fraud

 

28 comments:

Anonymous said...

The Colemans don't need to buy any new clothes.

Anonymous said...

Shit it's about time. I'm sure everything was well documented and there for them to just pick it up(sarcasm). They have had enough time to shred or dispose of everything incriminating. I am actually surprised to see he was at his home instead of some non-extraditable country with two middle fingers in the air.

Anonymous said...

If there is still a Robert E. Lee drive, I would expect it to be in Greenwood, Ms.

Anonymous said...

Coleman should run for President and then he’d be immune

Anonymous said...

Lol, Robert E Lee Drive. So much material so little time....

Anonymous said...


Mr. Coleman sure has a nice house in a nice neighborhood for someone who can't pay his bills. F**king crook.

Anonymous said...

Every report I read seems to revolve around the 'number of beans' held or claimed or missing or that never existed. This activity took place a stone's throw from Mississippi Valley State University. Don't they graduate any bean-counters over there who could be of assistance?

Meanwhile: These FBI boys ain't no bunch of Blue Ribbon Beer drinkers in white socks from Itta Bena. They've been watching this house and the perps for months. Whatever they find or don't find in this raid is not critical to the prosecution...Just icing.

Anonymous said...

Have they found even one penny of the missing money yet?

Anonymous said...

Coleman’s Bermuda turf is in excellent condition and free of weeds which indicates his lawn man has still been on the payroll conducting pre/post-emergent herbicide treatments since this scandal broke this past fall. Just a simple observation from a fellow lawn man.

Anonymous said...

His yard may be free of weeds, but it is not free of ruts.

Ben Dover said...

Ruh roh, no blessings.

Anonymous said...

@7:32 PM
“His yard may be free of weeds, but it is not free of ruts.”

Hm. No sane person begins a sentence with “His.” Who is his? His is who? Not to mention the run-on sentences you’ve attempted to squeeze into one stinky, convulsive, bloody mess. Are you from Little Rock, Arkansas? “It is not free of ruts” is a complete sentence. Then you had the audacity to conjoin the two sentences via using a comma. Sigh. Free education people, use it.

Anyway, here’s the correct usage: Coleman’s yard is free of weeds but not ruts.

Anonymous said...

The hissing sound you hear from Lexington is famous plantiff lawyer Don Barrett's balloon with the latest hole poked in it. His idea to sue the bank blaming them for this entire fracas has fallen apart in his face. Granted, it was a stretch, but being raised in the King of Torts school of lawyering, he was going to sue the folks who had deep pockets; in this case, the only people that had pockets at all

It has been coming clearer and clearer that Barrett's theory of this fraud was one concocted in his stately law library. One that even sucked KF into the web of deception last fall; that the bank knew of the failings of EG but delayed action until the beans were in the silos. Now we know that the accounting statements submitted to the bank were bogus like the ones submitted to MDAC, and that Coleman's had been lying to the bank just as they had to everyone else.

Hate it for the farmers. Hate it for the banks that loaned money to the farmers. But, they were all competent business people with experience and knowledge of how grain elevators operate. They had options on how to proceed, and evidently many made a poor selection.

I don't give a damn about the Missouri bank, but I do think that the concept of suing them for the fraud of the Coleman's was bogus from the beginning. But coming from Barrett, wasn't surprised.

Unknown said...

10:51 - Thank you. Mr. Know-it-all. In the words of the old Sarge "Lighten up, Francis."

Anonymous said...

@8:01AM
Definitely unknown.

Anonymous said...

I bet All Hat Andy is pissed he wasn’t at the raid. He hasn’t been on TV all week.Maybe its time to buy some TV ads promoting all his trade shows.

Macy said...

11:40. I agree with your analysis of the situation. I do not know anything about anyone's mental state, so I am not commenting on that.

I do think that the case against UMB Bank appears to be falling apart. I still don't understand the theory of the duty of the bank to do anything other than take all legal means to protect its collateral and shareholders. No one has sufficiently explain to me what duties the bank owed to the farmers and how those were violated.

Banks are not eleemosynary institutions. I think that was Justice Cardozo.

Anonymous said...

@901 you're welcome. No problem, glad you are happy to express your opinion, just as others do here daily.

Anonymous said...

@901 you're welcome. No problem, glad you are happy to express your opinion, just as others do here daily.

Anonymous said...

You mean these guys still had files and shit on scene?

Anonymous said...

Macy,

If you still don't understand that the bank had a duty to conduct itself as a reasonable bank under like circumstances, and whether the bank's extensions of the loans throughout 2021 were reasonable under the circumstances is a fact-driven inquiry, then your lack of understanding can only be the result of tunnel vision and willful ignorance. In short, the plaintiffs need to conduct discovery.

Anonymous said...

WHich Mississippi banks will take a loss on this and how much money will they lose? Will any be shut down by FDIC and sold to other banks?

Macy said...

@12:35. If you can show me that you UMB bank knew that there was fraud going on, and they extended or renewed loans with the intentional purpose inducing farmers to deliver their harvests to the elevator, then you might have something. I will admit that.

I'm not sure the facts will bear that out, but that is a reasonable legal Theory to me, at least.

However, I am much less convinced of the negligence. The bank is a competing creditor with the farmers. It seems like the duties that you are saying that the bank owed to the farmers are pretty favorable to a competing creditor. I'm not even sure constructive notice of the fraud is enough to support a negligence claim. I think the farmers need to show actual knowledge of the fraud on the part of the bank in order to have any shot at this.

Anonymous said...

Macy,

Not long ago I worked opposite a young lawyer who got hung up on "no duty." Even after we survived summary judgment, that attorney continued to insist that their client owed no duty to our client, as a matter of law. That defendant's payment has cleared our trust account, and I suspect the young lawyer is still arguing no duty.

-12:35

Anonymous said...

UMB bank purchased all of EG yesterday for 25 million. If UMB decides to sale EG they can't do so for more than 25 millon.

Macy said...

12:35, why won't you do me the favor and actually walk me through the theory, then? What duty did UMB Bank owe the farmers and, with some detail, how did the bank violate that duty?

Obviously you won on summary judgment in the case from your war story for a reason. I'm sure you explained your theory in order to obtain that victory.

Anonymous said...

Macy,

I explained my thinking on negligence and duty to you in more detail on other Express Grain posts, which I won’t repeat here.

Whether EG breached its duty and how will either be revealed in discovery, or it won’t. It’s a fact-driven inquiry, with mixed questions of fact and law. I just don’t think EG avoids discovery, i.e., is dismissed on a Rule 12 motion dismiss, on an argument of no duty. They might get out on a Rule 56 Motion for Summary Judgment, but I don’t think “no duty,” as a matter law and without discovery, is the silver bullet you seem to think it is.

Macy said...

In my world, there is no discovery unless I can plead a claim that states a basis for legal relief. Especially in federal court.

I don't think that discovery is necessary for the discussion of what duty, if any, the bank owed to the farmers. I'm not just screaming "no duty!" We have a situation of clear competing creditors. That raises this question.


Recent Comments

Search Jackson Jambalaya

Subscribe to JJ's Youtube channel

Archives

Trollfest '09

Trollfest '07 was such a success that Jackson Jambalaya will once again host Trollfest '09. Catch this great event which will leave NE Jackson & Fondren in flames. Othor Cain and his band, The Black Power Structure headline the night while Sonjay Poontang returns for an encore performance. Former Frank Melton bodyguard Marcus Wright makes his premier appearance at Trollfest singing "I'm a Sweet Transvestite" from "The Rocky Horror Picture Show." Kamikaze will sing his new hit, “How I sold out to da Man.” Robbie Bell again performs: “Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be Bells” and “Any friend of Ed Peters is a friend of mine”. After the show, Ms. Bell will autograph copies of her mug shot photos. In a salute to “Dancing with the Stars”, Ms. Bell and Hinds County District Attorney Robert Smith will dance the Wango Tango.

Wrestling returns, except this time it will be a Battle Royal with Othor Cain, Ben Allen, Kim Wade, Haley Fisackerly, Alan Lange, and “Big Cat” Donna Ladd all in the ring at the same time. The Battle Royal will be in a steel cage, no time limit, no referee, and the losers must leave town. Marshand Crisler will be the honorary referee (as it gives him a title without actually having to do anything).


Meet KIM Waaaaaade at the Entergy Tent. For five pesos, Kim will sell you a chance to win a deed to a crack house on Ridgeway Street stuffed in the Howard Industries pinata. Don't worry if the pinata is beaten to shreds, as Mr. Wade has Jose, Emmanuel, and Carlos, all illegal immigrants, available as replacements for the it. Upon leaving the Entergy tent, fig leaves will be available in case Entergy literally takes everything you have as part of its Trollfest ticket price adjustment charge.

Donna Ladd of The Jackson Free Press will give several classes on learning how to write. Smearing, writing without factchecking, and reporting only one side of a story will be covered. A donation to pay their taxes will be accepted and she will be signing copies of their former federal tax liens. Ms. Ladd will give a dramatic reading of her two award-winning essays (They received The Jackson Free Press "Best Of" awards.) "Why everything is always about me" and "Why I cover murders better than anyone else in Jackson".

In the spirit of helping those who are less fortunate, Trollfest '09 adopts a cause for which a portion of the proceeds and donations will be donated: Keeping Frank Melton in his home. The “Keep Frank Melton From Being Homeless” booth will sell chances for five dollars to pin the tail on the jackass. John Reeves has graciously volunteered to be the jackass for this honorable excursion into saving Frank's ass. What's an ass between two friends after all? If Mr. Reeves is unable to um, perform, Speaker Billy McCoy has also volunteered as when the word “jackass” was mentioned he immediately ran as fast as he could to sign up.


In order to help clean up the legal profession, Adam Kilgore of the Mississippi Bar will be giving away free, round-trip plane tickets to the North Pole where they keep their bar complaint forms (which are NOT available online). If you don't want to go to the North Pole, you can enjoy Brant Brantley's (of the Mississippi Commission on Judicial Performance) free guided tours of the quicksand field over by High Street where all complaints against judges disappear. If for some reason you are unable to control yourself, never fear; Judge Houston Patton will operate his jail where no lawyers are needed or allowed as you just sit there for minutes... hours.... months...years until he decides he is tired of you sitting in his jail. Do not think Judge Patton is a bad judge however as he plans to serve free Mad Dog 20/20 to all inmates.

Trollfest '09 is a pet-friendly event as well. Feel free to bring your dog with you and do not worry if your pet gets hungry, as employees of the Jackson Zoo will be on hand to provide some of their animals as food when it gets to be feeding time for your little loved one.

Relax at the Fox News Tent. Since there are only three blonde reporters in Jackson (being blonde is a requirement for working at Fox News), Megan and Kathryn from WAPT and Wendy from WLBT will be on loan to Fox. To gain admittance to the VIP section, bring either your Republican Party ID card or a Rebel Flag. Bringing both and a torn-up Obama yard sign will entitle you to free drinks served by Megan, Wendy, and Kathryn. Get your tickets now. Since this is an event for trolls, no ID is required. Just bring the hate. Bring the family, Trollfest '09 is for EVERYONE!!!

This is definitely a Beaver production.


Note: Security provided by INS.

Trollfest '07

Jackson Jambalaya is the home of Trollfest '07. Catch this great event which promises to leave NE Jackson & Fondren in flames. Sonjay Poontang and his band headline the night with a special steel cage, no time limit "loser must leave town" bout between Alan Lange and "Big Cat"Donna Ladd following afterwards. Kamikaze will perform his new song F*** Bush, he's still a _____. Did I mention there was no referee? Dr. Heddy Matthias and Lori Gregory will face off in the undercard dueling with dangling participles and other um, devices. Robbie Bell will perform Her two latest songs: My Best Friends are in the Media and Mama's, Don't Let Your Babies Grow up to be George Bell. Sid Salter of The Clarion-Ledger will host "Pin the Tail on the Trial Lawyer", sponsored by State Farm.

There will be a hugging booth where in exchange for your young son, Frank Melton will give you a loooong hug. Trollfest will have a dunking booth where Muhammed the terrorist will curse you to Allah as you try to hit a target that will drop him into a vat of pig grease. However, in the true spirit of Separate But Equal, Don Imus and someone from NE Jackson will also sit in the dunking booth for an equal amount of time. Tom Head will give a reading for two hours on why he can't figure out who the hell he is. Cliff Cargill will give lessons with his .80 caliber desert eagle, using Frank Melton photos as targets. Tackleberry will be on hand for an autograph session. KIM Waaaaaade will be passing out free titles and deeds to crackhouses formerly owned by The Wood Street Players.

If you get tired come relax at the Fox News Tent. To gain admittance to the VIP section, bring either your Republican Party ID card or a Rebel Flag. Bringing both will entitle you to free drinks.Get your tickets now. Since this is an event for trolls, no ID is required, just bring the hate. Bring the family, Trollfest '07 is for EVERYONE!!!

This is definitely a Beaver production.

Note: Security provided by INS
.