John Coleman will invoke his Fifth Amendment rights if he is compelled to testify in his bankruptcy case, according to a court filing Thursday.
The Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution allows Coleman, the embattled president of Express Grain Terminals LLC, to decline to answer questions if the testimony might incriminate him.
Coleman, who filed for bankruptcy along with his company in late September, failed to appear at a scheduled meeting of creditors on Tuesday.
According to a filing by Acting U.S. Trustee David Asbach, Coleman refused to answer questions at the original meeting in November. After Coleman again failed to appear in court, Asbach asked Judge Selene Maddox to “compel (Coleman) to comply with his statutory obligations” and appear at a now rescheduled creditors’ meeting on March 23.
In a response filed by his attorney, Craig Geno of Jackson, Coleman is asking to have the motion to compel dismissed entirely.
A hearing is scheduled for Friday at 1 p.m. to address Coleman’s request to have his bankruptcy case converted from Chapter 11 to Chapter 7. A trustees’ examiner appointed by Maddox, Albert Altro of Los Angeles, has objected to Coleman’s request.
Coleman is currently under investigation by the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office in association with the submission of falsified financial documents to state regulators.
UMB Bank of Kansas City, Missouri, which is Express Grain’s largest creditor, is holding Coleman and his father, Greenwood opthalmologist Dr. Michael Coleman, responsible for the loans provided to Express Grain, which totaled $70 million. The bank has accused Coleman of several acts of fraud.
The bank recently used a credit bidding process to purchase Express Grain’s manufacturing facility in Greenwood and also its grain warehouses in Greenwood, Sidon and Minter City for $25 million. This would reduce Express Grain’s debt to the bank by that amount, but the bank has previously requested the court exempt Coleman from any discharge.
- Contact Kevin Edwards at 662-581-7233 or kedwards@gwcommonwealth.com.
Coleman will plead the fifth
