# 7 DAVID CANNON RESIGNS - 80 BOXES OF JAMES BROWN DOCUMENTS

            July 17, 20007. Another conference table.  Smaller than  March 26.  David’s Barnwell office.   David, Buddy and Al Bradley -- again.  Bob. Me -- again.  Jonathan Harling, a young attorney with Lewis & Babcock, litigation lawyers for Brown’s Estate and Trust.  

 

A speakerphone in the middle of the table.

 

David says we have seen all of the bank accounts. 

 

           As we get ready to leave, we open a small manila file.  It contains a copy of the $900,000 check. The July 2006 check from Universal Music is  payable to “James Brown, LLC Collection Account … M& T Bank, Buffalo, New York." There is also a letter from Steve Sidmans of Greenberg Traurig, one of Brown's entertainment attorneys.  

             M&T is the trustee for  Brown’s 1999 Bond debt to  the NY Teachers. The check is from a settlement following an audit of the royalties.

            Where was the money deposited?  David says in a local checking account. One he now shows us.

            Why?  David says they just did what Leon Friedman told them to do with the check.

            Leon is a distinguished professor at Hofstra Law School.  Over the years Leon has represented  James Brown in some of his most important and complex cases. Leon also writes books about the Supreme Court justices and their decisions.

             Buddy and David say Leon can't be reached.  He is in Italy with Justice Scalia. I suggest we try calling Leon  anyway-- just in case.  We do.  Leon answers.  The conversation goes like this:

             DAVID:  Leon, I thought you were in Italy.  With Justice Scalia.

             LEON:   No.  I’m leaving tomorrow. And it’s Justice Ginsburg this year.

             DAVID:  Leon, the special administrators are here with us today. (Courtesies    exchanged).   They want to know about the directions you gave us for the Universal audit check that came in last summer.

             LEON:  I didn’t give any directions about that check.

            David’s first card had fallen.  But for the help of the Attorney General – and later  the AG’s appointee Russell Bauknight -- David's whole deck would have swiftly collapsed.  And maybe the  $12+ million missing from funds Brown gave to the “I Feel Good” Foundation would have been recovered. 

 

           It didn't happen. 

On July 27 Bob and I – cautious, as always – moved for the removal of “one or more” trustees.  The motion was based on a "serious breach of trust"  -- $900,000 unaccounted for.   A James Brown hearing before Judge Early was already set for August 10.

 
            Buddy, David and Al secretly scampered to sign documents for David to resign; attorney Bill Hammond to replace him as trustee; and a transfer of Brown's 2000 Trust to Georgia before the August 10 hearing. Nothing worked.

            Then by August 3 David would become the sole culprit. Al and Buddy filed affidavits saying  they knew  nothing  about the $900,000.   

            On  August 10 David resigned and returned $350,000 of the $900,000. This was the amount that had cleared the bank after Brown's death.  In an order consented to by Buddy, David and Al, Judge Early accepted David's resignation.  All of the attorneys and accountants who had worked closely with David were terminated.  All "Brown Historical Documents"  -- including the files of terminated attorneys -- were to be placed in a central location.  They could be reviewed by anyone interested in the James Brown matters.

            The Brown Historical Documents were more than 80 boxes. By default, they were directed to be placed in the large, open area behind the office I rented from my son.  1218 Taylor Street, Columbia. But Buddy and Al, the remaining fiduciaries, retained control over them -- subject to access by all. 

            The August 10 order changed the official address of the 2000 Trust and estate from David's office to Bob's Aiken address.

 

My wonderful staff and I did not realize at the time that we had been given ringside seats to the  post-death James Brown Revue.  The show alternated between drama and slapstick. Then turned into a  tragedy.

Next Post:  # 8   AUGUST: RICHLAND COUNTY

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# 6. THE ATTORNEY GENERAL'S MONEY

       On September 24, 2007 Sr. Assistant Attorney General Sonny Jones says he appeared in the James Brown case “on a white horse.”  It was quite a high one.

       Sonny came  to save the “I Feel Good” Trust.   From Bob and me.

       At the invitation of David Cannon and Buddy Dallas. 

       There was not even a challenge to James Brown’s Will or Trust at the time.

       Three months later contests were filed. Eight months after that -- on August 10, 2008 -- Attorney General Henry McMaster would claim the right to control the James Brown litigation.  And  give away half of Brown’s “I Feel Good” Foundation for needy students.

        Everyone would start calling Brown’s assets  the “Attorney General’s money.”

        It was the summer of 2007 when things started to move quickly.

       On June 22 an order of Judge Early gave Bob and me access to the books.

       On June 26 I went alone to Barnwell to see records.  David refused.  He said he didn’t care what the Court order said, I couldn’t see the trust records until Bill Hammond approved.  I left.  Buddy called me as I was driving out of the small town.  Asked me to return.

       David apologized.  Said he needed a vacation.  Said he hadn’t had time to grieve
the death of his friend. He asked me to come back after the 4th of July.  I said ok.

       Returning home, I went by Bob’s office in Aiken.  I told him we both needed to
be there for the next visit.  And it should be soon.

       We tried to schedule for July 6.  David was busy. After several attempts, the  visit was set for  July 17th.

       On July 10 Powell Goldstein sent Buddy and David documents to transfer the 2000 Trust out of South Carolina.  To Georgia.  [The documents failed to comply with statutory notice provisions.]

       On July 17 Bob and I went to Barnwell.  It was a near-repeat of the March meeting. David was fuming again.  But his lawyer was making him comply with the Order.  Slowly.

       David wouldn’t let us go to the file room, even though the Order said our access to the records was to be the same as the that of the Trustees.  He kept handing us checkbooks or files. One at a time.  It was tiring.

    By early afternoon we needed a break.

    Then we found the $900,000 check.

Next Post: David Cannon resigns.  The Eighty Boxes. 






























 

# 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”

#4 March 26, 2007: Red-Faced and Banging on the Table

The back story given by Brown’s grandson Forlando when he sued Bob and me in 2008 helps explain how David Cannon acted at our first meeting.

Forlando said he and others hired Louis Levenson just after Brown died. They agreed to pay Louis $150,000 plus a 30% contingency fee to get them the music empire Brown had given the “I Feel Good” Trust.

Forlando says the family promised him $10 million and a Porsche Boxter to overlook the destruction of the $285,000 Education Trust his grandfather gave him.

Forlando said Louis tried to make a deal with the Cannon Group. When that failed, Louis moved to Plan B – to get the assets by court action without running afoul of Brown’s In Terrorem clause. I was part of that plan.

According to Forlando, when Louis told  his clients Judge Early had appointed me SA, they cheered.  I was a “bull dog” who would get rid of the Cannon Group. Being their bulldog, I would then roll over. They would get the music empire.

Having just fired Louis, Forlando had apparently shared his theory with David and Buddy before we met.

I will never forget March 26, 2007.

Aiken.  Offices of Hull, Towell.  Clean conference table. None of the documents we had asked to see.

David, Al Bradley, Buddy.  A covey of their lawyers.  Bob. Me.

David was red-faced.  Angry.  Fists to the table.  He accused me of being a spy. I said we were just doing the job the Court had asked us to do.

Never having seen David before, I thought he might have a heart attack. Or explode. 

Bill Hammond, their  tax lawyer -- probably a distant-but-unknown cousin --reigned while David fumed.

Bill said there was nothing much in Brown’s estate.  All in the 2000 Trust. There was no need for us to see tax returns. They were wrong.  Bill would have them corrected. The TIAA deal from 1999 was complex.  Bill would figure it out and report to us.

Over the next few months Bob and I would come to understand why the Cannon Group did not share well.  They couldn’t account for about $17 million of the $80 million that had passed through David’s hands since the 1999 TIAA deal. 

I started to believe that David was the biggest threat to the “I Feel Good” Trust.

I was wrong. It was the Attorney General – working with David and Buddy. And  with Brown’s bright, 21-year-old grandson, Forlando.

Post #5: Forlando; the Meeting at Uncle Darren’s House; the Levenson/Bell Wars

# 3. TAKAHACHI, East Village, December 26, 2006

        We walked  to Takahachi the night after Christmas.  When we arrived, the usual warm buzz was punctuated with a funky beat.

    Then we saw the day’s special: the James Brown Rest-in-Peace Roll. 

    My husband Tom talked about how popular James Brown was in Asia.  I didn’t know.  But I knew I loved his music.
 
    We ate our Rest-in-Peace Roll.

    For a few days Brown rested  in peace at the Apollo -- and  we on East 9th Street.  It would be the last peaceful rest James Brown or I would have for 7 years.

    I missed most of the early James Brown events -- the competing factions on the Larry King Live Show; the drama at the gates of Brown’s Beech Island mansion; the  press release about the 5-man legal team companion Tommie Rae had assembled.

    Then one of Tommie Rae’s attorneys - a professor and friend - called. Judge Doyet “Jack” Early, presiding over James Brown’s case in Aiken County, was going to appoint a special administrator for Brown’s Estate. Could he submit my name?
   
    Why not?

    But I had one hesitation. Another mansion in tiny Beech Island, SC – now a State Park – was the home of my great, great grandfather  – also James -- an outspoken slaveholder. 

    I decided that was my ancestor’s problem.  Not mine. I told him yes. 

    Bob was nominated by attorneys for Brown’s original trustees, David Cannon, Buddy Dallas and Al Bradley. (I later learned they opposed my appointment.)

    After a telephone interview with Judge Early and  counsel, Judge Early appointed Bob and me limited, non-fiduciary SAs in a March 7, 2007 order. Our role: to keep an eye on the assets.

    We invited all to meet with us on March 19 to share concerns.  Atlanta attorney Louis Levenson and others came.  They had lots to say about the Cannon Group. 
       
    The Cannon Group didn’t come.  But they had been busy.  By March 26:

        1.  David had bought a $200,000 lot for his retirement home on Roatan Island.
        2.  Powell Goldstein was hired to advise them about “all Schedules B;” and
        3. Grandson Forlando had fired Levenson and aligned himself with the Cannon Group.

Next Post: March 26, 2007. Red-Faced and Banging on the Table

# 2 1999. James Brown - Ready to Create a Legacy

         QUESTION:     

                 How much of James Brown’s assets should the Attorney General give to challengers claiming Buddy Dallas and David Cannon unduly influenced  Brown to give his music empire to the “ I Feel Good” Foundation?

       AG’s ANSWER:    

                52 ½%; and a  right to buy Brown’s assets at "fair market value." Then value Brown's worldwide music empire at $4.7 million.

                If the AG’s answer makes you laugh, don’t.  Consider crying.
   
               From 2008 until 2013 only a handful of people dared to challenge the AG’s answer -- or the AG’s right to take over and give away Brown’s private property.

               But there was simply no reason for the State’s official charged with the protection of charities  to dismember what was about to be S.C.’s largest private foundation dedicated solely to the education needy students.  The undue influence claim had no basis.

               In 1999 Brown was 65.   He had been working with estate planner Dewain Herring since 1996.  He and financier David Pullman were publicizing Brown’s $100 million music empire and touting a sophisticated financing deal.

               Brown was slowing down.  But not stopping.  He never did.

              On February 24th Brown made the tape of his intention to create the “I Feel Good” Trust, but delayed signing.

             On June 11 Brown was in New York to close the Pullman deal. Brown got a $26 million loan from the New York Teachers ( “TIAA”), pledging the rights to 800+ songs.
   
             Four days later, on June 15, Brown executed the first “I Feel Good” Trust.

            The 1999 estate plan would be almost identical to his final 2000 estate plan:

            1.  Personal and Household effects to 6 of his dozen or so children;

            2.  (By formula) $285,000 education trusts to the 7 children of the 6;

            3.  Everything else to the “I Feel Good” Foundation.

             Small changes on August 1, 2000 in the plan and execution of an irrevocable trust left four separate documents executed over two years to confirm Brown’s wishes. Memoranda of the 2000 Trust were filed in two states. Brown’s plan was ironclad.

            When challenges erupted seven years later, Buddy Dallas would say: “If James Brown were here, this would be over in fifteen minutes.”  But Brown was not there.

#1 The Accidental Advocate

    Fifteen years ago, on February 24, 1999, entertainer James Brown made what may turn out to be the most important recording of his life.

    It was evening. Brown was with his longtime attorney Albert “Buddy” Dallas; his trusted financial adviser David Cannon; his cousin Willie Glenn; and his friend and assistant Linda Ware.                .

     Estate planning lawyer Dewain Herring had come from Columbia, S.C.

    After years of planning, Brown was getting ready to set up his “I Feel Good” Foundation – to give his $100 million music empire solely to educate needy students. He would sign it the next day.

    The family knew about it.  Daughter Deanna had helped gather names and information about the seven grandchildren for whom Brown was creating $285,000 education trusts. Brown’s wife Adrienne, before her death in 1996, had encouraged the creation of the “I Feel Good” Trust.

    Brown’s voice tape of his plans to set up the “I Feel Good” Trust the next day is pure James Brown: preachy; staccato; down home.    Brown speaks of having arrived despite obstacles; of being a 7th grade dropout; of giving back like the Kennedys.

    Brown reminds that there will be multiple copies made of the tape, so that it can be “checked for any hanky panky.”
          
    Brown – who always controlled the schedule – announces on the tape that he will not sign the next day.  Reminding all that he is a 7th grade dropout, he will take the documents home and study them.

    He did. 

    The “I Feel Good” Foundation was set up on June 15, 1999 with a will and revocable trust.  It  was tweaked, and the “I Feel Good” Trust  made irrevocable, the following year – August 1, 2000.

    Brown died on Christmas day 2006.  Several months later Bob Buchanan and I were appointed by the Court as limited Special Administrators of his estate. We remained involved in the Brown estate in various capacities until May of 2013.  Bob and I became two of the most loyal defenders of Brown’s estate plan.

    This blog deals with that experience. Most importantly, it will address how a five-year intervention and takeover by the State’s Attorney General has impacted the “I Feel Good” Trust.

    Post #2.  1999. James Brown; Ready to Create A Legacy.