Friday, June 30, 2023

Madison Timber Update

The SEC's case against Lamar Adams, yes, Lamar Adams, is still active in federal court. Receiver Ally Mills filed her 90 day status report today. The case is not even plodding along but is rather stuck in the mud as the defendants bury Ms. Mills in a never-ending avalanche of discovery requests:

As I have reported, because the Court consolidated the cases for discovery, things have not moved at a normal pace. The parties still have exchanged written discovery only; soon four years will have passed without a single deposition. Defendants would like to postpone depositions indefinitely. Rather than address the allegations against them, defendants have attempted to subpoena all 218 victims (184 investors in Madison Timber, plus the additional 34 who invested through the Alexander Seawright Timber Fund) and numerous government agencies—in addition to the S.E.C., the IRS, the U.S. Postal Service, the Department of Justice, FinCEN, even the United States Secret Service!—for the apparent purpose of passing blame and creating more trial-delaying litigation.

There has been little progress since my last report. As noted above, defendants’ counsel managed to file 529 pages of new briefing solely on the issue of victim discovery. I still do not have a trial date for any of the four cases.

Stay tuned. 

29 comments:

Macy said...

This is all too common in litigation. The Magistrate Judge should find a way to streamline discovery, somehow, some way. This is absolutely playing into the Defendants' hands.

Anonymous said...

Typical civil defense lawyers doing what they do best, running the payment meter while delaying the case as long as possible! And the “good law firms” are the guiltiest of all. Mills should have already been raising hell with the court about this.

Anonymous said...

The ball is in the court of Ms Mills and the defendant has the racket. (see what I did there?)

Anonymous said...

Seems to be a quagmire. Defendants should be entitled to discover information from victims but the judge can limit the scope reasonably.
Does anyone know why the judge hasn’t ruled on limiting the subpoena question?
RMQ

Anonymous said...

Justice delayed is…..

Anonymous said...

Meanwhile, the lawyer’s favorite bank is holding and investing the millions and millions of recovered funds in short term investments like TBills and commercial paper and returning a pittance of the interest back into the “so called” recovery fund while she is getting payed quite nicely. If you were duped by this imprisoned scam artist, maybe you should ask a few questions.

The Meter is Running said...

Cha-ching...billable hour$.

Anonymous said...

The way I read the report, 4 defendants with practically limitless resources decided to dig in try to bury the opposition in onerous and harassing discovery: Baker Donleson, Bankplus, Trustmark, and UPS.

Ms. Mills objected. The issues have been fully briefed, and the parties await a ruling from the court.

Anonymous said...

How much of their money have the victims actually recovered?

Anonymous said...

I call bullshit on Mills. She's billing too.

If she knows this is a problem, file a motion and push the magistrate on scheduling orders.

I know it isn't easy, but it has to be done. If she can't do it, remove her and assign someone else.

Anonymous said...

Judge Keith Starret (sp?) did absolutely jack shit after being assigned to handle pretrial matters, including discovery. Now a new magistrate judge has been assigned and has done jack shit, except state his intention to appoint a special master to help. The simple solution to discovery is for the judge to set a trial date. Mills has requested a trial date repeatedly, and is on the third or fourth round of briefing on the discovery issues. No judge will rule on her request for limits to the excessive discovery requests from defendants nor will the judge set a trial date to force the parties to complete discovery. She has argued repeatedly that without a pending trial date and a ruling on discovery issues, the defendants have no incentive to do anything other than delay. Meanwhile, last year when McHenry appeared before Judge Reeves on criminal attempt, Judge Reeves allowed him to obtain counsel (even though McHenry had chosen to that point to represent himself) and cautioned McHenry that “the court will not sit on its hands.” So, McHenry promptly filed bankruptcy for a second time to avoid the contempt charge (which arose from him perjuring himself in his first bankruptcy). In the past couple of months, McHenry’s 5 acre Deerfield residence was ordered into foreclosure so that some consolation. But his second bankruptcy lingers on and Judge Reeves’ court continues to “sit on its hands” as victims die or otherwise continue to suffer financially as the result of the fraud perpetrated by these scoundrels. The federal court has failed them all and doesn’t appear particularly concerned.

Anonymous said...

Federal Courts have a process to stop the deposition of hundreds: it's call Bellweather.

Look it up - a bellweather is the lead cow in a herd.

This was recently used in a federal Vicksburg case involving the Engineer Corp.

Anonymous said...

Clawbacks? 4 years and not one dime paid back from those investors that made a profit. Why? (Of course we know why)

Anonymous said...

There is no “Justice System.” It’s the legal fee generation, rich and powerful system.

The government loses when they’re right against defendants that are powerful enough.

The government wins (crushes their victims) when they’re wrong against the no so rich and powerful.

Anonymous said...

I seem to recall hearing that a fair number of those who were duped are Jackson attorneys.

Anonymous said...

Any chance she can claw-back the several hundred thousand McHenry tucked away prior to filing bankruptcy?

Amazing how quickly a man can go bankrupt when the law is on his tail.

Anonymous said...

I have friends of mine that lost $500k to this company. How did this get so far?

Anonymous said...

These funds are returning around one percent. Treasury bills and notes with approximately 1 year maturities are yielding between 4% and 5%. SOMEBODY IS GETTING RICH, with no incentive to end this prosperous “investment” plan. While those victims await their money, they in essence are losing between 3 and 4 percent of their money due mainly to inflation? Maybe they need a new set of eyes to look over the practicality of what is going on. Oh, don’t use the excuse of liquidity, US Treasury bills and notes are far more liquid than bank CD’s and have absolute protection.

Anonymous said...

The fund is yielding less than 1% while short term treasury investments are yielding between 4 and 5%. Somebody or some bank is getting rich on these spreads while inflation is eating away at the funds being held in the Arthur Lamar Adams case.

Anonymous said...

A 90 day treasury bill is yielding over 5 %. The bank holding this money in escrow is paying around 1%. I guess this woman running this recovery doesn’t realize that, but she is in charge of managing multi millions of dollars held in escrow. Inflation is robbing the poor victims almost as bad as Lamar Adams did. But, since there seems to be little “REAL” oversight, who cares.

Anonymous said...

The only thing important here is McHenry's escape from justice. He had Adams testify at trial that he (McHenry) was just a salesman and knew nothing about the scam.

This boy needs to face the piper.

Anonymous said...

10:40 AM Have they recovered any of their money?

Anonymous said...

The low hanging fruit has already been picked.

Anonymous said...

I know McHenry and have for a long time. I would not let him enter my house.

Anonymous said...

Most fail to understand that these victims, or most of them, had been investing in this for several years and did in fact earn hefty returns on those previous investments. Most of the victims are afraid they’ll have to give up they’re previous earnings (remember Madoff), if they rumble too loudly. A lot of them gained more than they lost.

Anonymous said...

Hey 7:16- why the continuous hard on for McHenry?
Were you one of the mullets that "invested" in the timber deal and lost $$ ?
Blame yourself or advisor, not McHenry..."if its to good to be true, it probably is"..

Anonymous said...

Attn 10:15 AM Why not ask those questions around the Greenville Ms. Area where McHenry grew up?

I Too Know Him said...

10:15 - Well, hello there Bill. No, I didn't invest a nickel. Nor would I have if you gave me your premier speech while dining at Ticos and being plied with the finest liquor.

I happen to know the boy, have for almost 50 years, going all the way back to Greenville and beyond.

He played the banjo while multiple suckers struggled, gave it up and later squealed like pigs.

Oh, but, Bill...you were just a local sales rep who answered a newspaper ad.

Anonymous said...

7:11 a.m. Good question. The investors made profit on their investments. Some have made more than their initial investment. Clawback for them? Just asking.


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