Jackson Jambalaya

Former Baker Donelson attorney Jon Seawright will face the music this fall.  The docket in USA v. Jon Seawright states: 

Set/Reset Hearings as to Jon Darrell Seawright: Sentencing set for 10/11/2023 at 10:00 AM in Courtroom 5B (Jackson) before District Judge Carlton W. Reeves.

Seawright pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy in U.S. District Court a year ago.  He has not been associated with Baker Donelson for 2 1/2 years.  

The attorney waived indictment and accepted a bill of information.  The bill of information states Seawright conspired with co-defendant Brent Alexander to sell phony timber investments from 2011 to 2018 through their company, Alexander Seawright Timber Fund, LLC (ASTF).   The bill states: 

It was part of the agreement and conspiracy that JON DARRELL SEAWRIGHT and TED BRENT ALEXANDER, did knowingly and intentionally participate in a scheme and artifice to defraud investors by soliciting millions of dollars of funds under false pretenses and failing to use investors' funds as promised.  Co-conspirators SEAWRIGHT and ALEXANDER represented to investors that ASTF was in the business of loaning funds to a "timber broker" to buy timber rights from landowners and then to sell the timber rights to lumber mills at a higher price. SEAWRIGHT and ALEXANDER promised ASTF investors a return of 10% or more over twelve or thirteen months on each unit of invested capital.

The Baker Boyz didn't inspect any properties related to the investments nor did they verify the timber deeds were indeed valid.  In short, all they cared about was cashing checks, investments be damned.  They also misled investors on their compensation for promoting the investments: 

SEAWRIGHT and ALEXANDER represented to their investors that SEAWRIGHT and ALEXANDER would only profit from each series of the investment if it performed as promised to the investors. This gave the ASTF investors the misleading impression that their interests were fully aligned with those of SEAWRIGHT and ALEXANDER. In fact, in addition to receiving a predetermined percentage of return on the investors' funds, SEAWRIGHT and ALEXANDER also received undisclosed payments of approximately 3% for recruiting investments to the timber investment scheme immediately upon transferring the investment funds to the purported timber broker. SEAWRIGHT and ALEXANDER did not disclose to the ASTF investors: (a) the fact of these payments, or (b) the amount of the payments in relation to the investments made, or (c) the timing of the undisclosed payments to SEAWRIGHT and ALEXANDER before any repayment was made to the investors.

It was further part of the scheme and artifice to defraud that SEAWRIGHT and ALEXANDER lulled and persuaded investors to maintain their investments and to invest additional funds by asserting that SEAWRIGHT and ALEXANDER themselves had personal funds invested in ASTF units, when in fact SEAWRIGHT and ALEXANDER rarely, if ever, invested their personal funds in a full ASTF unit.

U.S. Attorney Darren Lamarca will seek criminal forfeiture of all assets gained through fraud.  U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves will sentence Seawright in October.  Seawright faces a prison sentence of up to five years and a fine of $250,000 or less.  

Alexander pleaded guilty in April to conspiracy to defraud investors in the phony timber deed investment scheme.