Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
Dallas real estate developer Tim Barton faces federal charges for allegedly bilking more than $26 million from Chinese nationals who were told they were investing in suburban land development deals. Barton has tapped Holland & Knight partner Richard Roper to lead his defense.
Multibillion-dollar investment firm NexPoint Advisors LP has sued three imprisoned top executives of an embattled North Texas residential real estate lender, claiming the lender’s now-former CEO and others in management positions have improperly used tens of millions of dollars in shareholder funds to pay their personal legal fees.
Coming into the hearing, four UDF executives faced sentences of up to 27 years in federal prison, according to prosecutors.
Federal prosecutors say that roughly 30,000 investors are victims of the UDF executives under the Crime Victims Rights Act. Sentencing is set for May 20.
The allegations in the case involved the financing for the former Wade Park project located along the “$5 Billion Mile,” a one-mile stretch of land in Frisco that’s home to The Star headquarters and training center for the Dallas Cowboys, Toyota Stadium, and various high-end, mixed-use developments such as Frisco Station and The Gate.
Attorneys for UDF argue in new court filings that jurors should have been allowed to hear about a bitter rift pitting United Development Funding and CEO Hollis Greenlaw against Dallas hedge fund manager Kyle Bass.
CEO Hollis Greenlaw and his colleagues at the Grapevine REIT have demanded a new trial after their securities fraud convictions last month. They claim a “mosaic of cumulative error” caused them to be wrongfully convicted of duping investors and banks in a scheme involving loans to developers of hundreds of residential communities across Texas.
Roughly 30,000 victims nationwide lost money or were misled by the North Texas REIT and the firm’s executives, who were convicted last month of misusing proceeds from investors and financial institutions in a Ponzi-like scheme involving loans to residential housing developers across Texas, prosecutors said.
The CEO and three other executives of Grapevine-based United Development Funding convicted of securities fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy will be free while they await sentencing in May, a federal magistrate ruled Monday. The Dallas Business Journal is providing continuous coverage.
Four top executives of a Grapevine-based residential development lender United Development Funding return to federal court today in Fort Worth after conviction for securities fraud. The Dallas Business Journal is providing continuous coverage.
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