Madison Timber Receiver Alysson Mills settled her clawback lawsuits with Trustmark, Bankplus, and River Hills banks. Ms. Mills disclosed the settlements in her 90-day status report submitted to U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves Friday.
The SEC is trying to claw back illegal profits earned by Lamar Adams and promoters of a $164 million Ponzi scheme based on phony timber investments. Receiver Alysson Mills represents the SEC in recovering assets for later distribution to the victims. Her efforts include suing promoters who received commissions as well as the Butler Snow and Baker Donelson law firms. Adams is incarcerated in federal prison after he pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud. Butler Snow settled for $9.5 million. Mills and Baker Donelson are still slugging it out in federal court.
The Receiver sued the banks, alleging they made it easier for him to carry out his Ponzi scheme while he was their customer. However, Trustmark and Bankplus submitted suspicious activity reports to the federal government but apparently did so for naught.
Ms. Mills' status report states:
Ms. Mill has not filed a motion to approve the settlement. She stated she will do so soon and ask for a hearing date on November 6. There were some other nuggets of information in the status report.
William McHenry
McHenry still resides in the Madison County jail after a federal judge found him guilty of contempt of court last week. JJ reported last week:
Mills filed her motion for contempt on March 22 in U.S. District Court. The motion states McHenry filed bankruptcy in 2020 and listed the Receiver as a creditor. Mills had obtained a judgment against McHenry for $3,473,320 in the Lamar Adams case.
Mills objected to the bankruptcy, arguing he lied in his bankruptcy filings. The Receiver "examined" the defendant under oath at a debtor's exam in 2021. McHenry did not provide all of the records request and "could not identify the source of any deposit into his bank accounts and could not explain how he covers his monthly expenses."
The motion states:
For years, Bill McHenry has disposed or hidden assets and made his finances impossible to be scrutinized. The assets that McHenry sold or hid over the past four years emanate from the same source: proceeds of the Madison Timber Ponzi scheme. Indisputably, McHenry had no source of income other than Madison Timber commissions to purchase any assets.11 Those assets should have been turned over to the Receivership Estate to satisfy the final judgment for the benefit of Madison Timber’s victims. Instead, McHenry has engaged in a years-long campaign to evade enforcement of the judgment.A federal grand jury indicted McHenry in 2019 for securities and wire fraud in the Lamar Adams case. A jury acquitted him after a trial in December 2019.
Brent Alexander and Jon Seawright
The former Baker Donelson employee and partner pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud investors. They will be sentenced on October 31.
Baker Donelson and UPS
The clawback lawsuits are still pending against these defendants.
Bankplus
Bankplus stated in an SEC filing:On September 28, 2023, BancPlus Corporation (the “Company” or “BancPlus”), the parent company of BankPlus (“BankPlus”) announced that BankPlus had agreed in principle to a Settlement Agreement (the “Agreement”) relating to a previously disclosed complaint, Mills v. BankPlus, et al., Case #3:19-cv-00196-CWR-FKB (the “Complaint”). The parties to the Agreement are the plaintiff, Alysson Mills, in her capacity as court-appointed Receiver for Arthur Lamar Adams and Madison Timber Properties LLC (the “Receiver”), and the defendants, which include BankPlus, two former BankPlus employees, one then-current BankPlus employee and other defendants, including defendants affiliated and unaffiliated with BankPlus (collectively, the “Defendants”).Pursuant to the Agreement, the Complaint will be dismissed with prejudice and the Receiver will fully release all claims against the Defendants, and all parties will seek the court’s entry of a bar order prohibiting any continued or future claims by anyone against the Defendants relating to the Complaint, whether asserted to date or not. Final court approval of a bar order is a condition of the Agreement. When the Agreement is court approved and no longer subject to appeal, a one-time cash payment (the "Joint Settlement") will be made to the Receiver. BancPlus expressly denies any admission of liability or wrongdoing in connection with the Complaint or by assenting to the Agreement.BancPlus believes that it is in the best interest of the Company and its shareholders to enter into the Agreement, to reduce the risks and costs of continuing litigation. The Company expects to recognize a one-time charge to non-interest expense for its portion of the Joint Settlement, net of insurance proceeds received, in the third quarter of 2023, which the Company does not believe will be material to the Company’s consolidated financial statements. The Company expects its portion of the Joint Settlement to be tax deductible.
The Receiver has distributed $17.5 million to victims and has $1.9 million deposited at Hancock Bank.
22 comments:
What’s Ms. Mills’ cut of all that
I'm sure her "cut", as you say, is disclosed in her filings with the court. I've been following this case for years and if it weren't for Baker Donelson and the Banks dragging things out, this case would have been settled years ago saving time and money for the victims. Mills has earned every dime of her fee. Someone has to be hired to get some money back for the victims. The banks and BD aren't going to offer it up without a fight.
How many of the purported victims are now deceased?
The worst part is not @ Ms. Mills; but the fact banks, and sales persons DID NOT EVEN VERIFY TIMBER TRACTS while filing LLOC’s. Strange EVERY OTHER person asking for a loan has to provide everything up to their first born child. Investors might should have checked better but trusted these so called financial experts. We have all learned a lesson from this. Watch your interest rates increase at all of these banks to make up for the shortfall & make sure Officers have not moved to your current bank, just a precautionary warning! Good work to MS. Mills & Courts!
Alysson Mills is extraordinary. She has grabbed onto this and not let go. Job well done.
"BancPlus expressly denies any admission of liability or wrongdoing in connection with the Complaint or by assenting to the Agreement. "
Then grow some balls and go to court and show you didn't do anything wrong.
"Bill McHenry has disposed or hidden assets and made his finances impossible to be scrutinized."
Dig up his back yard for mason jars full of $100 bills
@11:29 --- need to keep up, or at least understand -- before you jump on here or elsewhere making statements that show your ignorance.
The banks in this case had nothing to do with checking the titles to the land, seeing if there were timber tracts, or otherwise -- such as they would do when one makes a loan with them. Yes, they would take everything including not just your firstborn but all kids - claimed and unclaimed. But in this mess, the banks were not making loans and that is not what they have been accused of doing.
They were providing banking services - receiving deposits, making disbursements. And as KF noted, a couple of them even bothered to do what the Fed requires when there are such substantial transactions of this nature - reported them to the feds.
No loan from the bank = no look at the deed of trust or the title opinions.
That failure was by the investors that were stupid enough to accept the word of the promoters - those folks who believed that unheard of rate of returns could be made by the difference between buying a tract of timber and selling it to a mill.
Even my pre-teen knows enough about transactions to know that kind of deal won't return 12+% - even when told so by a family friend promoting the deal.
Attn 11:59 AM , go to Madison county jail inmates and you will see a not so happy William (Bill) Mc Henry’s mugshot as he is now residing at our expense in Canton’s beautiful jail.
4:00 thank you for sharing, but Wire Transfers MUST be signed by Officers and more than one when the amount Exceeds a certain amount. Clerical prepare these documents & as I recall early on there were notarized documents taken to a UPS store on County Line Road where no one saw these persons to sign. Lying to ANY LEO whether state, federal, etc is against the law. Please post a Blank copy of a wire transfer form that each bank used to disperse funds.Then go back & question all of those who processed. Were you in the meetings when announcements were made when this was discussed at any of the banks involved. These remarks are BS, But thank you for sharing. PS fraudulent wire transfers are FEDERAL CRIMES,
5:49 - wire transfers have nothing to do with what you originally said about the banks -
"but the fact banks, and sales persons DID NOT EVEN VERIFY TIMBER TRACTS while filing LLOC’s. Strange EVERY OTHER person asking for a loan has to provide everything up to their first born child. Investors might should have checked better but trusted these so called financial experts".
Again, the banks did not have any reason to check Timber Tracts. They transferred money from one account to another.
Much different transaction. And the UPS store notaries were not connected to the wire transfers you are now trying to bring into the conversation to cover your first misstatement. Don't go do it again with a second.
I am not saying the banks were ok with what they did, or not. I am not taking a side on the bank's activites or Mills's in going after the banks.
But - I am saying that the things that made the Timber 'Investments' such a fraud was not related to the banks not checking on the solidity of the deal - something that the investors failed to do along with any advisors that they used in deciding to risk their dollars.
Yes, fraudulent wire transfers are federal crimes - but I think I am correct in saying that the requirement is to report those that look suspicious - which according to KF's comments, at least one or two of the banks did here. And from what I remember reading (many many moons ago) the problem with the banks was not that the wire transfers were fraudulent - its just that they were moving around money that was aasociated with the fraud; not that the transfers did not meet the requirements for a proper transfer. (And - any signature requirement of a bank officer is not certifying to the transaction creating the need for a transfer, but just rather that the funds are available and that the proper reporting has been done - when required - because of the dollars being transferred.) You effort to redeem yourself failed.
And - in my opinion, FWIW - the remarks that are BS are in the original comments, and added to by the 5:49 comments.
Are any of these people still working in banks or wealth management? If so, which ones? I want to avoid those if at all possible.
Peace be to you Nd all of the investors that lost much. Thanks to Judge Reeves and Ms. Mills for aiding the less fortunate.
Waiting on Lifetime movie and John Gresham to write a book that turns into a movie. Great writer!
Wow. Those are strong opponents and Ms. Mills is making them pay one by one.
Baker donelson next? Staying tuned.
Every single parasite who “invests” in parasitic income deserves to be scammed.
Just a thought…imagine if Ms. Mills were handling the TANF mess. I know, it’s apples & oranges different but still, I think she’d be a formidable force.
I just love the way she has these lawyers, and bankers bent over a barrel. So satisfying.
Maybe congress could hire Ms. Mills to help them figure their mess out.
Just curious when the receiver is planning her ploy to claw back the illegal money investors made from their investments? Happened to the investors that invested with Bernie Maddof. Can’t get the investment back and keep the illegal profit.
4:00 Were you in the meeting with Nelson the day this was announced at the bank? Lamar was arrested right around this period. None of this should have happened as too many people suffered tremendous losses including children.
7:41, why didn't the feds stop it after the SARS were filed? See if you can get an answer to that
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