# 5. FORLANDO: The Meeting at Uncle Darren’s House; the Levenson/Bell Wars

      This week I attended yet another hearing in S.C. Federal District Court Case 3:08-cv-00014-WOB, known in the James Brown world as the “Forlando Federal Case.”
 
      Forlando reminds me of my own son – before he became a Marine. Tall. Handsome. Charming. Brighter than some of his cousins with advanced degrees. Occasional outbursts of righteous indignation.

       I kept hoping Forlando would save the “I Feel Good” Trust. It didn’t happen.

      On January 2, 2008, at  21, Forlando made a triumphal entry into federal court.  He asked the Court to enjoin Brown’s Trust until David Cannon and Buddy Dallas were reinstated as trustees. [ Forlando tried to leave quietly in 2012.  And  erase what had happened.] 

        Forlando was flanked by a prestigious legal team which included three or four Powell Goldstein lawyers; a former S. C. Chief Justice and his son; and David Bell.

      And someone important had Forlando’s back – Henry McMaster, the Attorney General of South Carolina. In late 2007 Senior Assistant AG “Sonny” Jones had entered the James Brown Aiken case. Sonny would later tell the S.C. Supreme Court the AG came in “on a white horse.” Well, maybe.

    Invited by Buddy and David, Sonny arrived just as Bob and I had uncovered $7 million of the $12 million David Cannon was later charged with taking.   On October 28, 2007, David emailed a friend:

      "...the tide seems to be turning.  I went to the Attorneys General of SC and Ga and they have entered the proceedings.  The Judge and other attorneys have been quite [sic].

I have told my story to both and hopefully we can get this THING over with." 
 
    Forlando’s complaint said  he was an impoverished student; learning to be a good citizen; trying to carry out the wishes of his famous grandfather. He said Bob and I would not pay education funds from his $285,000 trust. He claimed we were trying to help Brown’s girlfriend Tommie Rae Hynie. And the clients of Forlando’s  former lawyer, Louis Levenson.  He said the Trust should be run by David and Buddy.

    What he didn’t tell the federal court was that he had just been given 39% of TJBL, the entity trying to buy Brown’s music empire.  In a year, with only charm as capital, Forlando was up from a promise of $10 million and a Porsche Boxter to1/3+ of a worldwide music empire.

    Meanwhile Louis and David Bell were at war. Bell claimed Forlando’s  signature was forged on the Levenson contract. Forlando had not been a client. This conflicted with Forlando’s own report of the early 2007 meeting at the snazzy Atlanta home of Uncle Darren and Aunt Yamma Lumar. With Louis, the Reverend Al Sharpton and others present, Forlando said the plan for Louis to help the “family” dismember the “I Feel Good” Foundation was made.

Next Post: “The Attorney General’s Money”