Here is Something for Our Beef Plant Readers to Chew On

Belle alerted me that lawyers for This Facility Group filed a motion Tuesday seeking a subpoena of Community Bank’s records on their business dealings in connection with the failed beef plant. The filing strikes me as routine but the part I found interesting is that despite a loan guarantee by the Mississippi Development Authority, Community Bank experienced some heartburn with the management of the project by Missississippi Beef Processors LLP. I found this quote on page 2.

Despite the State guarantee, the bank refused just a few months later to fund the first construction draw due to concerns over the management of the project.

My experience is this would be highly unusual as the loan was essentially risk free for Community Bank yet here we are at the earliest stages of the project with red flags flying. I can’t imagine the politicians sending tax money down an obvious black hole without getting a brown paper bag in return. It will be most interesting to hear why Community Bank refused to fund the first draw on a guaranteed loan.

Against this backdrop we fast forward to the 2008 Mississippi Senate campaign for Trent Lott’s old seat. I still marvel the Democrats would run a candidate in Ronnie Musgrove that has potential exposure from the fall out of this $55,000,000 mess, the resulting criminal convictions and upcoming trial. I consistently hear this will not end with Moultrie and company. The big question is how close this will come to the Musgrove himself.

I’m interested to hear what our Georgia based readers think.

sop

10 thoughts on “Here is Something for Our Beef Plant Readers to Chew On”

  1. Guys:

    Take a look at the complaint in the case of Perdigao v. Adams & Reese, USDC, Ed. of La. (08-3570). It’s long, but you might want to cut to the chase at paragraph 71. If this is remotely true, and it’s pretty detailed, this is the tip of the Katrina iceberg. Look at it and post a response. Thanks.

    Rick Trahant

  2. Welcome back Rick.

    I did some googling and found out the case involves Bill Jefferson, Eddie Jordan, Robert Guidry and possibly the Edwards prosecution.

    If you already have the pdf of the complaint please send it to me (earning04 at gmail.com). Belle is out and my curiousity is now killing me.

    Perdigao agreed to cooperate with the government by giving them information. Perdigao alleges Robert Guidry, his client back in 2000, bribed then-U.S. Attorney Eddie Jordan, with the help of Congressman William Jefferson. In documents filed in federal court last week, Perdigo alleges, “…Perdigao related detailed information concerning Guidry’s payments to Congressman William Jefferson to influence the determination to be made by the then U.S. attorney on limiting the amount of jail time and the amount of fine, forfeiture and restitution Guidry had to pay.”

    sop

  3. I’d reply directly to Pete Perry on Yall but registration there evidently takes a while so I’ll reply here and hopes he sees it.

    It is unusual as the loan was approved. The implication in the wording of the motion is the MBP was self contracting the build out and had to bring in TFG to make the bank happy.

    I do not know too many banks that would approve a bad arrangement in advance and there no reason to believe Community Bank would not have followed MDA lending guidelines.

    The red flags were flying early for a reason which gets to the heart of the why TFG wants this subpoena.

    sop

  4. Oh please. The registration @ Y’all is not that onerous nor time consuming. You easily spend that much time on this blog self-circle-congratulating each other for blog posts.

  6. Never said registration itself was Mr Sid but it took Alan Lange a bit of time to approve it and I wanted to reply to Mr Perry. I like Yall and that should be a given since it graces our selective blogroll.

    WordPress does not give their bloggers much choice as to the moderation setup. We have the least restrictive option set up where the first comment goes into moderation and once approved the users can post to their heart’s content. On our old blogger site we had no moderation which setup we prefer.

    The authors here on slabbed are not of one mind on the issues we cover. That said there is a tremendous amount of work and time that goes into this endeavor and the pay is, well, nonexistent. I honestly don’t know why Nowdy set me up so nicely here or why Belle spends her own money downloading court docs for publication here beyond simply caring for the slabbed on the coast.

    I do know this, being nice and acknowledging their hard work is not only most appropriate but it is also the right thing to do from a team standpoint. Simply put slabbed could not exist in its kicked up form without them. In fact, it would not exist at all without Nowdy.

    We welcome you, your observations and insights to slabbed Mr Sid. Thank you for commenting.

    sop

  7. Hi sop, from a Georgian that knows Facility Group. Dont know if you read that their salesperson, Georgia Ways and Means State Rep. Earl Erhart has resigned!

    why it took him so long. Not looking good for the company.

    Please keep up postings on FG and the failed Meat Processing Plant.

    I dont ever see much about the contractor, Carrouth Construction, that the owners are in jail. do you know anything about this company?

  8. Yes, please keep all the posting of court information on USA vs Moultrie. I appreicate you

  9. If the pols are leaving the company the gravy train must be ending. I put some info on Carothers up on the other thread.

    sop

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