Phony medical clinics, phony 13% returns, and a host of other phony promises yielded the alleged scamming of over 100 investors of $9 million in Mississippi. A Madison County lawsuit describes how a pair of fraudsters were able to pull off their not-so-little scheme.
Thomas and Linda Hill sued William Chancellor, David Rowe, and Malachi Financial Agency on April 4, 2025 in Madison County Circuit Court.David Rowe formed Integrated Medical and Wellness Clinic of Mississippi, LLC in 2019. Rowe's LinkedIn page states he is the CEO of the company. Danny Chancellor created Malachi Financial Agency in 2014.
Rowe told potential investors he planned to open IMAWC clinics in Mississippi. The clinics focused on regenerative medicine and individualized treatments for patients. Rowe hired Chancellor as the broker for the company, who received commissions for investments.
The complaint spells out the scheme:
16. Between 2019 and 2021, Rowe engaged Chancellor to help him raise money for Integrated Medical. Together, the two of them agreed to join efforts -Rowe had concocted the ""can't simple: in exchange for investments in $25,000.00 increments, Integrated Medical would issue promissory notes to investors guaranteeing a 13.3% annual return for four years. From there, Chancellor and Rowe set to work promoting and selling investments.
The Hills had previous dealings with Chancellor as he sold them investments in 2020 through Malachi. Chancellor portrayed himself as a financial advisor who surrendered his license when he retired. Unfortunately for the Hills, they were unaware they were dealing with a couple of fraudsters.
Rowe pleaded guilty to fraud in federal court in 2008. The Court sentenced him to serve three years on probation and pay $9 million in restitution at $200 per month.
Chancellor had a checkered past as well. The Secretary of State fined Chancellor $12,500 and suspended him for one year in September 2012 for forging a client's signature and making an unauthorized transaction as well as misleading statement.
FINRA suspended Chancellor for three months and fined him $5,000 in 2016 for his failure to disclose a tax lien in his application for securities registration. The Secretary of State hammered Chancellor again in 2017, fining him $20,000. Disgraced, Chancellor terminated his registration in 2017.
Conned by the con artists, the Hills bought into the scheme and invested $50,000. Chancellor in turn promised Integrated Medical would make monthly interest payments.
Integrated Medical paid $554 per month from January 2022 to February 2023. However, the checks stopped coming in March 2023. Such tactics are commonly used by fraudsters to lure victims. They promise interest payments, make them for a short period, and eventually cease making payments.
The Hills grew suspicious but the fraudster firm of Chancellor & Rowe had the excuses ready to go:
25. Hill began asking about the missing payments. He contacted Chancellor and Rowe, behind on its interest payments, but that they were working to get caught up. Both Chancellor and Rowe asserted that the reason Integrated Medical was behind was because it needed additional administrative staff to help with the payments and that Integrated Medical was in the process of hiring said staff to correct the problem. On August 7, 2023, Hill sent a letter to Rowe reminding him of the delinquent payments. Hill sent a copy of this letter to Chancellor. On September 11, 2023, Rowe called Hill and advised that the company was in the process of paying its creditors and that he planned to have Hill's interest payments caught back up within a 2-3 month period. Despite Rowe's assurances, the Hills did not receive another interest payment from Integrated Medical until December 10, 2023, when Integrated Medical paid $3,325.02, representing six months of past-due interest payments. This amount did not include contractual late charges and additional interest, and there still remained four months of interest payments outstanding.
Rowe continued to shovel more BS to his victim:
In or about December 2023, Rowe called Hill regarding the delinquency. Rowe stated that he was returning from Houston, Texas, where he ws building another clinic, which would be designed to perform treatments involving embryos. Rowe stated that he had several white papers on the subject and would sent them to Hill. He also advised Hill that he had secured a $23 million line of credit from his bank, thus offering his reassurance to Hill that Integrated Medical would continue to make its interest payments. Hill never received any white paper.
Thomas Hill grew tired of the excuses and sued Integrated Medical in Madison County Circuit Court in 2024. The Court awarded a default judgment to the Hills and ordered the defendant to pay $50,000 for the investment, $16,650 for attorney's fees, and $11,661 for interest.
Upon investigation, the plaintiffs discovered there was no Integrated Medical & Wellness Clinic in Ridgeland. Thomas visited the clinic at the 212 Draperton, Ridgeland address in January 2023 and found it to be "exceptional." However, the clinic he visited was a completely different business with completely different owners. In other words, Rowe's Ridgeland clinic did not exist. When Thomas tried to garnish Integrated Medical, the bank said there was only $1,762 in the account.
Thomas learned the investments were not registered securities as required by law. The Hills minced no words as they accuse Chancellor & Rowe of defrauding them out of $50,000.
The lawsuit charges the defendants with breach of contract, breach of duty and good faith dealing, breach of fiduciary duty, common law fraud, fraudulent concealment, fraudulent representation, unjust enrichment, misuse of a position of trust on a vulnerable person, negligence, and civili conspiracy.
The case is assigned to Circuit Court Judge Brad Mills. The Hills asked for compensatory and punitive damages, attorney's fees, and interest. Attorney Judson Lee represents the plaintiffs. Chancellor is represented by Chandler Sessums and James Shelton. Cody Gibson, Esq. represents Rowe.
The Court denied Chancellor's motion for summary judgment. The case is in the discovery phase.
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The Secretary of State issued a Cease & Desist Letter against Chancellor in June 2025. Chancellor as he landed over 100 investors and earned no less than $401,775 in commissions from 2021 to 2023. Many of the investors were Chancellor's previous customers from his time as a broker. Earlier post.
Unfortunately, the investors soon found the promissory notes were just promises as the company either did not make interest payments or paid them for only a few months, a classic trick of financial fraudsters. The order states:
21. Investors sent many requests to Chancellor to receive their expected interest payments. Initially. Chancellor would tell the investors that the interest payments were running behind and that they needed to wait. Eventually, Chancellor began to ignore investors· calls to receive their interest payments and/or their principal investment amount, per the terms of the Notes.
The Cease & Desist order states investors lost nearly $9 million in the scheme.
10 comments:
Where are the criminal charges?
Is there any meat left on this bone?
Real question here. How often does a promised 13.3% return on one of these type of deals ever actually work out? Are there people in the metro area who have been approached with similar and actually had it work?
Let me guess:
These returns were guaranteed!
These con artists just love a good "13%" annual return. Reminds me of Lamar Adams (Madison Timber). Good ole lucky number 13—high enough to entice, but low enough to convince someone it surely isn’t a scam... It is. It always is. If you meet someone promising any return between 13.0% and 13.9%, it's a scam. Just park your money in a Vanguard ETF like a good American. You won't beat the market.
In 2008 Rowe was convicted and the court ordered him to repay $ 9 million at $ 200 per month. $ 9 million divided by $ 200 equals 45,000 months. 45,000 months divided by 12 months in a year equals 3,750 years. Seems the judge was very lenient on him.
What? We thought that he was related to T. Rowe Price. But I bet they are "good Christians" and said "have a blessed day" at every opportunity.
Should these guys fry? Absolutely.
Should we feel sorry for anyone greedy and/or stupid enough to fall for this/Todd Mardis/Madison Timber/Steadivest or the host of other scams this state seems to produce on an level equal to kudzu & diabetes?? Absolutely not.
People investing in these scams get exactly what they deserve. If you’re not smart enough to know that “secure” 13% returns don’t exist, then you need to be taught an expensive lesson in basic finance & economics.
2:15pm— jus kina funny, somehow. Them payments gonna get old after a couple hundred years…
The average person cannot beat the market, but it always amazes me how the politicians and big wigs on Wall Street seem to be able to beat it! Almost makes one think they are rigged or something!
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