Thursday, February 24, 2022, 11:46 am News Flash Archive

Early this morning, armed agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation raided the offices of Express Grain at the oil mill in Greenwood, as well as EG President John Coleman's home on Robert E Lee Drive.

The FBI executed search warrants at the oil mill and at the house.

Mr. Coleman was present at his home when the agents, said to number "close to a dozen," appeared to conduct the search. It was still in progress at 11:30 this morning. Mr. Coleman left soon after the FBI arrived.

The agents were taking photographs and hauling away boxes of items. Most of the agents appeared to come from Northeastern Mississippi.

The involvement of the FBI indicates that some violations of federal law are under investigation.

UMB Bank has leveled allegations of fraud against EG and Mr. Coleman. They have accused Mr. Coleman of filing numerous falsified reports to UMB Bank indicating repeatedly that EG owned more beans than it actually did, counting beans sold to others as EG's property, for purposes of obtained credit from UMB Bank that it was not entitled to under their loan agreement.

See our reporting here: UMB Bank levels new fraud accusations against John Coleman and Express Grain

Furthermore, UMB Bank claims that the audit report provided to UMB Bank by John Coleman and Express Grain differed substantially from what Horne LLP, the company's auditors, had prepared and provided to Express Grain. This was first discovered, UMB says, when the Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce unsealed copies of Horne LLP's actual audit which it provided to EG originally.

On February 10, 2022, MDAC revoked EG's warehouse licenses based upon this same fraud. See our reporting here: Mississippi Department of Agriculture VOIDS Express Grain warehouse licenses due to fraud

John Pittman Hey
The Taxpayers Channel

News Flash Archive