A trustee was appointed today in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Chattanooga for the Brown’s Tax Service case, in which millions of dollars invested by Soddy-Daisy retirees are alleged to be missing.
Chattanooga attorney Jerry Farrinash, former trustee for ex-auto dealer Joe Prebul, is tasked with accumulating and taking possession of Soddy-Daisy tax preparer Jack E. Brown’s remaining assets.
Former customers of Brown’s Tax Service have accused him of running away with millions of dollars in savings that he had promised to invest on their behalf with returns of up to 15 percent.
Brown has between 21 and 30 days to contest the involuntary bankruptcy petition, which was filed by Dayton attorney Rebecca Hicks on behalf of eight clients.
All together, Hicks’ clients have lost $1.27 million to a man who friends describe as a “day trader.”
Brown owned “eight to ten” properties, Farrinash said, including several that had businesses attached.
According a handful of properties tracked by the Hamilton County Assessor of Property, Brown’s properties are worth about $750,000.
See tomorrow’s Times Free Press for more.
Contact staff writer Ellis Smith at esmith@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6315.
Ellis Smith joined the Chattanooga Times Free Press in January 2010 as a business reporter. His beat includes the flooring industry, Chattem, Unum, Krystal, the automobile market, real estate and technology. Ellis is from Marietta, Ga., and has a bachelor’s degree in mass communication at the University of West Georgia. He previously worked at UTV-13 News, Carrollton, Ga., as a producer; at the The West Georgian, Carrollton, Ga., as editor; and at the Times-Georgian, Carrollton, ...
related articles »
An active rail line serves as a modern moat at the 22-acre estate of Jack E. Brown, who has been ...
A Soddy-Daisy tax preparer accused of engineering a massive Ponzi scheme is resisting efforts by officials to uncover millions of ...
Soddy-Daisy tax preparer Jack E. Brown will lose his firm in the first step by bankruptcy trustee Jerry Farinash to ...
A neighborhood tax adviser may have fleeced millions of dollars from close to 40 Chattanooga-area clients in what police officials ...
