TEXARKANA, Texas - A Maud, Texas, couple accused of defrauding a timber investment company of more than $4 million wants a civil suit pending against them in a Texarkana federal court put on hold while a criminal case proceeds in a Georgia federal court.
Lawyers for James Thompson, 46, and April Thompson, 41, filed a motion opposed by the government last week asking U.S. District Judge Robert Schroeder III to stay the proceedings in a civil filed against them in May by Forest Investment Associates in the Texarkana Division of the Western District of Arkansas in light of a criminal indictment issued in the Atlanta Division of the Northern District of Georgia in late October.
"Since Individual Defendants can be called and forced to testify in this action, both at deposition and at trial, permitting discovery and trial to occur will force Individual Defendants to choose between publicly testifying under oath on matters directly implicated in their criminal case, or asserting Fifth Amendment rights and being unable to defend themselves in this case," the motion to stay argues.
Georgia-based Forest Investment Associates complains in a civil suit filed in May that April Thompson and James Thompson conspired over an eight-year period to defraud the company of more than $4 million through phony invoices generated at a local timber management company where April Thompson once worked as an account manager. Kingwood Forestry Services maintains offices in Texarkana, Texas; Monticello, Arkansas, and Arkadelphia, Arkansas, according to the company's website.
The suit accuses the Thompsons of submitting fraudulent invoices for forestry work James Thompson never performed. The Thompsons have denied the allegations. The 11-count criminal indictment accuses the Thompsons of conspiracy to commi mail fraud and specific incidences of mail fraud related to the alleged fraud described in the civil complaint. Both pleaded not guilty at a hearing Nov. 1 in Georgia.
Texarkana lawyer Sean Rommel also filed an objection last week to a report from the receiver appointed by Schroeder in the civil case to oversee the Thompsons' assets and finances. According to the objection, the receiver recommended Oct. 30 that the Thompson's trucking business, James Thompson Transport, be shuttered by Dec. 1.
The objection laments that the trucking business is the couple's sole means of support and that the court's order requires the receiver to act to maintain the receivership property for the benefit of the receivership estate. The objection continues by arguing that a public sale of property at auction would likely bring less revenue than the sale of assets to individual buyers.
The objection argues that "unencumbered" assets could be sold to reduce or pay off debt and thus make the business profitable and leave the Thompsons with a source of income.
BMO Bank recently filed a motion to intervene in the case asking that the court's receivership order be modified to protect BMO's interest in four vehicles purchased by James Thompson Transport. Four separate loans total more than $500,000 and BMO doesn't want the receiver to be able to repossess and sell the vehicles free and clear of the bank's liens.
The motion to stay, BMO's motion to intervene and the objection to the receiver's recommendation to shut down James Thompson Transport are currently pending before Schroeder.