Posted on 08/25/2006 4:56:39 AM PDT by Sybeck1
John Ford says he's financially strapped, but the indicted former state senator is still living the high life, a lawyer argued Thursday.
Ford applied for tags for a new, $80,000 Mercedes on the very day he filed court papers seeking a reduction in his court-ordered child support.
Then, about four weeks ago, Ford bought a $40,000 BMW, said government child support attorney Joe Little.
All the while, Little told a Juvenile Court judge, Ford has missed child support payments month after month and hidden bank and tax documents that detail his true income.
"He has thumbed his nose at your honor's order,'' Little told Juvenile Court Referee Harold Horne, who's been asked to hold Ford in contempt.
Horne delayed ruling on a North Carolina woman's claim that Ford owes her more than $50,000 in back child support, yet ordered Ford to turn over all financial records, including those documenting how he's raising money to battle criminal bribery charges.
Little said Ford has openly refused to provide records regarding a legal defense fund he controls. Charged in the FBI's Tennessee Waltz sting, Ford is soliciting financial donations in preparation for a trial in February in federal court.
"You've got a right to see how that's being used,'' Horne told Little, saying it's possible Ford has made personal use of the fund.
Horne set a Sept. 13 report date to monitor compliance with his order.
Ford's lawyer, Edward M. Bearman, told Horne his client isn't willfully hiding anything.
"My client is not a great record keeper,'' Bearman said. "He's done the best he can with what he has.''
Bearman filed some records under seal and asked Horne on Thursday to clear reporters from the courtroom. That request was rejected.
Ford, 64, was not present at the hearing, but Bearman said his client will cooperate in turning over records.
The controversy reaches back to February 2005, when Horne ordered Ford to pay $1,900 a month to Dana M. Smith, who has a daughter, now 11, whom Ford fathered.
At the time, Ford was earning $356,000 a year, yet his income fell precipitously that spring amid a Senate ethics investigation that found he was getting huge sums from state contractors.
Attorney Little said Thursday Ford hasn't done much to honor the child support order, which was retroactive to 2002.
"He's hardly paid $1,900 since Jan. 1 of this year,'' Little said.
The few details about his income that dribbled out at the hearing show Ford is receiving:
$2,500 a month from his state pension. Ford was a state senator for 31 years before resigning last year.
An undisclosed amount in "gifts'' from the N.J. Ford & Sons Funeral Home, the family business where he's worked in the past.
An undisclosed amount from the Oseman Insurance Agency, where he's worked for years as a consultant and agent.
Ford also has tapped into a retirement account. Little said during Ford's deposition -- testimony given under oath -- the ex-senator said that he had $30,000 in a checking account, money he got out of a 401k fund.
Ford's lawyer said the money is no longer there.
"He testified he tapped it out, put it in his checking account and spent it,'' Bearman said.
-- Marc Perrusquia: 529-2545
Copyright 2006, commercialappeal.com - Memphis, TN. All Rights Reserved.
This damn Republican state senator just goes to PROVE the CULTURE OF CORRUPTION!!!
why is the press hounding this man? Hasn't he suffered enough? /s
I believe that was sarcasm. xrp is pointing out that the article doesn't tell you his party affiliation... obviously he must be a Republican. /sarc of my own.
Make that DEMOCRAT state senator. (Just to pi$$ them off.)
"An undisclosed amount in "gifts'' from the N.J. Ford & Sons Funeral Home, the family business where he's worked in the past."
He must have been the official registrar for their clients to continue voting.
hehe, yeah
Excellent diagnosis! I thank you.
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