#11 THE REAL HEIRS, THE COPYRIGHTS AND HYNIE (Part 1)

On April 29, 2014 Judge Doyet “Jack” Early filed an Order declaring Michael Deon Brown, incarcerated in California, the son of entertainer James Brown. It was old news. 

Still, Judge Early’s order may turn out to be the first step since the S.C. Supreme Court’s May 2013  Wilson v. Dallas decision in the process of undoing the injustice to Brown’s “I Feel Good” Foundation for needy students, as well as to at least HALF of James Brown’s real children. The rights of both were ignored by former Attorney General AG McMaster in 2008 when McMaster took over Brown’s private property and reached a settlement which dismembered the “I Feel Good” Foundation.

The McMaster Settlement was voided in the Wilson v. Dallas decision.

In addition to taking control of  the  “I Feel Good” Trust and giving half of it away, McMaster claimed the right, by “stipulation,” to say who would be Brown’s heirs.  McMaster selected: non-wife Tommie Rae Hynie; her minor son; and a few of Brown’s dozen claimed children.

McMaster ignored Michael -- even though Michael had been supported by Brown under California court orders during his childhood. He ignored that Michael had been writing Judge Early and the probate judge from prison since 2007 seeking DNA testing, 

AG McMaster also ignored daughters LaRhonda, Jeanette and Nicole. In 2007 the three had been acknowledged by Brown’s estate after passing the estate’s official “Peeples DNA Protocol.” And McMaster ignored daughter Lisa, acknowledged in Brown’s first divorce decree.

But Hynie was not Brown’s spouse.  And her son, who refused DNA testing, was the only claimed child born in the 22 years between Brown’s vasectomy and his death.

[Brown’s lawyer Buddy Dallas asserts proceedings over Michael’s support prompted  Brown to get the vasectomy. Judge Early’s order confirms that Brown and Michael’s mother were in court in December ’83 and again in ’84.]  

The five children who jumped into the 2008 McMaster settlement to get a fourth of the “I Feel Good” Trust  have since confirmed they knew Hynie was not Brown’s wife.  So has a sixth child, Terry. [Terry extracted nearly 5% of the “I Feel Good” Trust and a right to buy Brown’s music empire before he would “stipulate” that Hynie was Brown’s wife.]

From 2008 until 2013 McMaster’s trustee was Hynie’s principal spokesman. He told the told the South Carolina Supreme Court  Hynie’s spousal claims were a “slam dunk.”  He told the Supreme Court Hynie and her son controlled the Federal Copyright Act termination rights to  Brown’s more than 800 songs.  He said that if the McMaster Settlement were not upheld Hynie would exercise those rights.  He said if she did there would be nothing left in the “I Feel Good” Trust by 2023.

The claims were not true.

With a little dose of dignity and fair contracts with the HALF of Brown’s real heirs McMaster chose to ignore – the ones who were not trying to set aside Brown’s Will and Trust – the copyrights Brown gave the “I Feel Good” Trust and their $3+ million annual royalty stream would be secure for needy students for decades.

But AG McMaster ignored or forgot the basic rules for any Private Foundation or other charity holding copyrights:

1.    DO  NOT create a spouse if you do not have one. [James Brown didn’t].

2.    If there is a spouse, see if (s)he has waived termination rights [Hynie did, before

her void 2001 ceremony with Brown]

3.    Properly identify all children, using official DNA for non-presumed children if possible.

4.    “Split Heirs” -- make termination rights agreements with only HALF (or half +1)

of  the children, and ONLY with those not challenging the validity of the Foundation.

5.    Be fair, but deal at arm’s length with heirs. Many strategies exist to prevent loss.

Whether those rules will be followed  --  helping both Michael and the “I Feel Good” Trust -- remains to be seen.

Next Post:  # 12 THE REAL HEIRS, THE COPYRIGHTS AND HYNIE (Continued)

# 10 WHAT ELIOT SPITZER TAUGHT HENRY McMASTER - AND US

Eliot Spitzer was a state attorney general who wanted to be governor. Henry McMaster was a state attorney general who wanted to be governor. That’s not so unusual.  It’s actually quite usual.  So usual that the joke in their national organization – NAAG – is that it should be called the National Association of Aspiring Governors. Not of attorneys general.

The week after James Brown died AG Spitzer became the Governor of New York.

Like McMaster, Spitzer had the duty as AG to enforce New York’s charitable and philanthropic organizations. Like McMaster, Spitzer served as AG while running for governor.

Spitzer’s office regulated a $26 million private foundation created by Spitzer’s parents with their money, the Spitzer Trust.  On August 10, 2008 Henry McMaster took over and began to regulate a private foundation created with James Brown’s money, the “I Feel Good” Trust. 

[McMaster actually proposed to put the “I Feel Good” Trust’s assets into another trust McMaster created and controlled through trustee Russell Bauknight - the Legacy Trust. The Legacy Trust, now controlled by AG Wilson, is currently suing to stop FOIA release of public documents in three separate FOIA lawsuits.]

In 2006 hundreds of thousands of dollars flowed into Spitzer’s campaign coffers from the heads of investment firms who were managing the Spitzer Trust’s assets. Opponents cried foul. They also claimed the Spitzer Trust was targeting areas where Eliot Spitzer needed votes for the Trust’s good works.

If AG Spitzer could reap $1 million in campaign contributions and create happy voters as a minority trustee of the $26 million Spitzer Trust,  just imagine what total control of  James Brown’s $80 million “I Feel Good” Trust  could do for AG McMaster!

But was it legal and ethical?  Or was there a conflict with the attorney general’s public duty to regulate a private foundation producing such good results for the AG’s campaign? 

Spitzer asked for an ethics opinion.  And got it:  NY Ethics Opinion 06-06.  Under the specific facts – and with the safeguards Spitzer had put in place – the opinion found Spitzer could serve on the Spitzer Trust’s board while serving as AG without violating ethics rules.

Here’s the difference between what Spitzer did and what McMaster would do in 2008:

      The Spitzer Trust was the Spitzer family’s money. The “I Feel Good” Trust was money McMaster got from Brown’s estate and trust by use of his public office.

  
            Spitzer had on file documents which provided for an outside Special AG to handle any enforcement of the Spitzer Trust.  McMaster controlled all enforcement of Brown’s “I Feel Good” Trust.

Spitzer, a minority vote on the Board, could not control the selection of investment managers.   McMaster had total control by an unfettered right to select, remove and replace the sole trustee.

      Spitzer had no control over placement of charitable grants. McMaster had absolute control.

But for the Supreme Court’s 2013 decision, nothing stood in the way of James Brown’s “I Feel Good” private foundation, after being taken over by the State, being turned into a political pocketbook for AGs – aspiring governors.

Next Post:  # 11 THE REAL HEIRS, THE COPYRIGHTS AND HYNIE

# 9 THE ATTORNEY GENERAL ENTERS

Looking back, it seems absurd that Buddy Dallas and David Cannon could get the  Attorneys General of two states to attack Bob and me.

It was absurd. But it worked. 

Sonny Jones, one of AG Henry McMaster’s senior assistants, and Grace Lewis, with the Georgia AG, entered on September 24, 2007. It was another James Brown hearing before Judge Early.  Nobody objected.  After all, the amount David Cannon couldn’t account for had risen to more than $7 million --  including the $5 million “check to nobody” David  had cashed at a local bank in 1999.

Buddy and others have used three litigation strategies in the James Brown cases:

1.     Throwing under the bus   

2.      “Lying by lawyer” – Change lawyers & conceal facts from new one.

3.     Changing Courts – and back again – as needed.

At the September 24 hearing Buddy’s and Al’s new lawyer, Stan Jackson, did not realize he was a victim of  strategy #2. 

 Stan was arguing a motion Buddy and Al had filed in late August – to declare Brown’s wholly-owned company, James Brown Enterprises, Inc. (“JBE”), an asset of Brown’s Estate. Not of Brown’s 2000 Trust.

JBE gets about 2/3 of Brown’s royalties for more than 800 songs. The royalties had generated about $3 million a year for more than a decade.

As proof, Stan produced JBE’s tax returns and an affidavit of Brown’s accountant Phil Farr. Stan used these to support his claim that the tax returns – showing Brown, individually, as the owner -- were the “best evidence” that JBE was in Brown’s estate. Not the Trust.

Stan also filed a stipulation I had refused to sign.  And Bob hadn't seen. The trustees, Brown’s companion, grandson Forlando and others had stipulated JBE was not in the Trust. The stipulation said the only assets in the 2000 Trust at Brown’s death were Brown’s Beech Island home estate and a small amount of cash.  

The problem:  Nearly Everything Stan was told – and repeated -- was false. JBE was in Brown’s Trust. [Within weeks Phil would produce tax returns saying the Trust owned JBE.] 

Buddy, David and Forlando knew the representations were false. But Stan didn’t.  And Bob and I didn’t.

After Stan’s argument, Judge Early went around the room.  Although the record was clear that we had refused to sign the stipulation, I stated that as special administrators we did not have evidence to refute Buddy and Al’s representation that JBE was never put in Brown’s Trust.

It’s hard to see how this simple, true statement would embroil Bob and me in 6 years of fabricated litigation.  And be used by Attorney General McMaster to dismember the “I Feel Good” Trust.

But David, Buddy and Forlando had a plan.  And by September 2007 powerful Powell Goldstein was  representing both Forlando and the group trying to purchase Brown’s music empire.

They would show us how it was done.

Years later Buddy told me he was the one who got the Georgia AG to come in.  David Cannon got Attorney General McMaster.

Next Post:  # 10   WHAT ELIOT SPITZER TAUGHT HENRY McMASTER – AND US

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#8 AUGUST: RICHLAND COUNTY

        On June 24, 2010 Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball said of the primary Attorney General Henry McMaster had just lost in his bid to be governor:  “ If politics is entertainment then South Carolina has become Broadway.”

        What Larry didn’t  report was that McMaster was also starring in the James Brown Opera. Opera because the only way to follow its  twists and turns is with both a plot summary AND supertitles. Here’s the plot summary:

ACT I:   AUGUST, RICHLAND COUNTY  [2007]

      AG McMaster, in the person of Sr. Assistant Sonny Jones, is invited by David Cannon and Buddy Dallas to enter the James Brown case.  He does so.  On a white horse. With the Georgia AG at his side. They sound the cry:

       We must rid ourselves of Bob Buchanan and Adele Pope.  They have ousted

       the innocent David Cannon.  They have done so to get the  $5 million commission        

      on Brown’s $100 million  Estate. They will aid non-wife Tommie Rae Hynie and

       the clients of Louis Levenson.

       Grandson Forlando and AG McMaster appear on television to denounce Bob &

Adele. Grandson also files a federal lawsuit to paralyze the “I Feel Good” Trust.

   

      But the millions Cannon took begin to be a problem. The AG – now wanting to be

governor -  can fix that. He will make everyone happy.  Except the needy students James Brown created the “I Feel Good” Trust to benefit. He will:

1.    Take control of Brown’s assets, and install his own trustee;

2.    Give ¼ of the “I Feel Good” Trust to the non-wife and put her and a non-son in control of Federal Copyright Termination Rights elections;

3.     Give another ¼ to Levenson’s clients, fewer than half of Brown’s claimed children --  ignoring the DNA-proven children, and others.

      ACT 1 ends with  AG McMaster, Hynie and Levenson proclaiming that they “speak as one.”  Bob and Adele are banished for suggesting this is not good for the “I Feel Good” Trust.  Or private property rights.  Or private philanthropy in South Carolina.

ACT II        RICHLAND COUNTY  [2010 -2103]

        But there are two problems.  The banished Bob & Adele have appealed.  And giving half of Brown’s $80 million charitable foundation to non-charities does create issues.  No problem.  The AG’s trustee will produce – actually, not produce -- a secret appraisal. Brown’s worldwide music empire will be declared to be worth under  $4.7 million.

       And the State and Hynie will stop the appeal by suing Bob and Adele for tens of millions of dollars.  For loss to a $4.7 million empire? No problem.

      The new AG and his trustee  will tell the State Supreme Court that Bob and Adele have committed the federal felony of overstating the value of Brown’s assets by $79 million to the IRS. Why? To get that $5 million commission.  On a $5 million estate.  That will fix them.

        Cannon will not be jailed. He will not be required to return the missing millions.  He is needed. He is the State’s witness against Bob and Adele in the suit another previously-aspiring governor, Kenneth Wingate, is pursing against  Bob and Adele for the State.

ACT III  RICHLAND, AIKEN COUNTIES  [2013 -2014]

        The S. C. Supreme Court voids the AG’s deal on May 8, 2013.  There is hope for the needy students.  But, no.

        On May 29 Hynie and Levenson ask the court to reinstate the AG’s settlement. Hearing this, the AG withdraws -- abandoning the “I Feel Good” Trust he has dismembered. Hynie, her lawyers and Levenson smile.  They may yet recover the $31 million AG McMaster gave them.

                             ******************************************

     It all began in August 2007 when Buddy Dallas and David Cannon asked AG McMaster to help save them – and the “I Feel Good” Trust – from Bob and me.

     Confident their plan would succeed, on August 16, 2007 David Cannon wired $866,000 to Roatan Island --to complete his turnkey retirement  mansion.  He had bought his $200,000 lot  just after Brown died. 

Next Post:  # 9   THE ATTORNEY GENERAL ENTERS

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