Friday, May 13, 2022, 1:19 pm News Flash Archive

Don Barrett is pursuing documents from outside sources to try to prove his claim that UMB Bank conspired with EG to shanghai the farmers' grain, for which they were never paid.

See our detailed description of Barrett's claims on behalf of the farmers against UMB Bank here: Farmers double down in class action suit against UMB Bank in Express Grain failure

Barrett will most likely have to hold off issuing subpoenas to UMB Bank until after the Motion to Dismiss has been ruled on. A hearing is set for June 13th in Jackson before Federal District Court Judge Henry T. Wingate.

Meanwhile, Barrett can still seek discovery from entities that are not parties to his lawsuit.

Previously, we reported on the subpoena issued to Express Grain. See the end of this article: Express Grain bankruptcy creditors await court ruling on the proposed settlement agreement

On May 9, a subpoena were issued to Horne LLP, the accounting firm that prepared audits of EG. EG, in turn, doctored those audits and submitted them to the Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce to support its renewal of its warehouse and dealer licenses. Those licenses were pulled by MDAC after it was discovered that the audits had been forged and did not match the actual audits prepared by Horne LLP. See our coverage of MDAC's revocation of EG's licenses here: Mississippi Department of Agriculture VOIDS Express Grain warehouse licenses due to fraud

Barrett is seeking from Horne:

Information and communications with, or related to, Express Grain Terminals, LLC, and/or any of its affiliates, subsidiaries, and principals, John Coleman and Michael Coleman, and UMB Bank, N.A., for the dates of January 1, 2015 to the present, including but not limited to, documents and data produced in In Re Express Grain Terminals..., audit workpapers, communications with John Coleman and Michael Coleman, and all invoices and billing records related to said parties.

To see this subpoena, click here: Subpoena to Horne LLP

On May 10, Barrett subpoenaed records from eGRAIN, the national electronic clearing house for warehouse receipts. Specifically, Barrett wants:

All materials that reference Express Grain Terminals, Inc. ("EGT"), its affiliates, subsidiaries, or its principals John Coleman and Michael Coleman, including, but not limited to:

a. all communications with EGT and/or its representatives from January 1, 2013 to the present;

b. all records reflecting the establishment, maintenance, or access of EGT to eGrain systems or accounts.

c. all communications with UMB Bank, NA, StoneX Commodity Solutions, f/k/a Stone Merchant Services LLC, Macquarie Commodities (USA) Inc., or Macquarie Bank Limited, and/or their representatives regarding EGT from January 1, 2013 to the present;

d. the issuance, transfer and cancellation of electronic warehouse receipts ("EWRs") or Price Later/Credit Sales contracts from or to EGT from 2013 to the present; and

e. all records with corresponding metadata reflecting any and all persons or entities that had access to EGT account information from January 1, 2013 to the present.

To view the eGRAIN subpoena, see here: Subpoena to eGRAIN

No doubt Barrett is seeking evidence of when UMB Bank first knew about the forged audits, and first knew about the selling of grain that didn't actually exist to Macquarie and StoneX.

 

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To read all our coverage of the Express Grain bankruptcy case, see here: Index of Express Grain articles

 

John Pittman Hey
The Taxpayers Channel

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