Former Freedom Industries president faces new fraud charge stemming from bankruptcy case

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Published January 22, 2015

CHARLESTON, W.Va. Former Freedom Industries President Gary Southern faces a new federal fraud charge stemming from the company's bankruptcy.

A federal grand jury in Beckley, West Virginia, handed up a superseding indictment on Wednesday against Southern and three other former Freedom executives. The indictment charges Southern with a new count of fraud by interstate commercial carrier and restates the charges in the original indictment.

The new count alleges that Southern sent a $6.5 million personal check to an insurance company to be deposited in an annuity account as part of a bankruptcy fraud scheme. The alleged scheme included attempting to protect some assets from possible verdicts and judgments stemming from a Jan. 9, 2014, chemical spill in West Virginia.

Southern's lawyer, Robert Allen, didn't immediately return telephone and email messages Thursday morning.

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Former Freedom Industries president faces new fraud charge stemming from bankruptcy case

Freedom's Southern faces additional charge

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Former Freedom Industries President Gary Southern is facing two new criminal charges this week, after a federal grand jury in Beckley handed up an indictment that supersedes the one issued last month.

The 38-page, 14-count indictment, deletes one previous count against Southern and adds two new charges related to the governments allegation that Southern lied about his role in running Freedom to protect his personal wealth from the companys bankruptcy proceeding and from civil lawsuits filed over the January 2014 chemical leak.

One of the new counts accuses Southern of fraud by interstate commercial carrier, regarding Southerns previously publicized transfer of $6.5 million from one financial account to an annuity account with creditor protection. The new count specifies that this transfer was made with an envelope containing his personal check ... delivered by [a] private and commercial interstate carrier.

The other new count accuses Southern of bankruptcy fraud, alleging that he was responsible for a statement of financial affairs, to be filed with the bankruptcy court that did not list him as having been a former Freedom officer.

The new indictment, made public Wednesday, does not include a previous charge of scheme to defraud in bankruptcy court, regarding an application filed in the bankruptcy case seeking to have Southerns legal costs covered by the company. The original indictment had alleged Southern misled the bankruptcy court in that application by not making clear his role at Freedom.

Southern, one of six former Freedom officials facing criminal charges, is free on a $100,000 unsecured bond. He has pleaded not guilty and trial is scheduled for March 10.

If convicted on all counts, Southern, 58, of Charleston, would face a maximum statutory sentence of 88 years in prison, before federal sentencing guidelines were applied to the case. The original indictments charges carries a maximum sentence of 68 years in prison. The new count alleging fraud by interstate commercial carrier carries a maximum sentence of 20 years.

Three other former Freedom officials -- Dennis P. Farrell, William E. Tis, Charles E. Herzing -- were also indicted in mid-December, and the charges against them were repeated in the new indictment adding charges against Southern. Farrell, Tis and Herzing each face three misdemeanor charges of violating the Clean Water Act.

Court dates have not yet been set for Freedom Industries or for two other company officials, Michael Burdette and Robert Reynolds, on charges against them related to the MCHM leak. Freedom has said it has reached a plea agreement with U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin. Burdette and Reynolds were charged through documents called informations, rather than grand jury indictments, which is usually an indication that a plea deal is in the works.

Reach Ken Ward Jr. at kward@wvgazette.com, 304-348-1702 or follow @kenwardjr on Twitter.

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Freedom's Southern faces additional charge

Book Review: Glow

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When critics talk about ''boy genius'' authors, they're talking about guys like Ned Beauman. The London native was the youngest writer on Granta's once-a-decade list of the best young British novelists in 2013, at age 28. Boxer, Beetle, his 2010 debut, followed a nine-toed boxer and a swastika-stamped beetle through 1930s Britain in a caper about eugenics. The Teleportation Accident, a genre bender about a man who time-travels between Weimar-era Berlin and 1930s Hollywood, got him long-listed for the 2012 Man Booker Prize. His latest, Glow, introduces a pill-popping raver named Raf who discovers that a friend has been kidnapped by mysterious forces in a white van. It's a pulpy whodunit, but it develops into something much weirder: a conspiracy thriller that involves a Burmese paramilitary group, the international trade of an MDMA knockoff called ''glow,'' and a shady mining corporation called Lacebark. The whole thing is so complicated that by the end of its slim 247 pages, you might feel as if your brain had been CrossFit training.

That's a good thing, until it isn't. At first, the mystery is irresistible because it's easy to care about Raf, a guy with so much heart he unlocks the lonely pit bull who's chained to his building to walk her around London each day. Beauman's descriptions are so vivid I started marking the best ones until I'd dog-eared half the book: The moon is a ''silver pill half dissolved on the tongue of the night.'' A child's discarded glove is ''like the carcass of a small, blind mammal with a body made mostly of fingers.'' But whenever he adds an insanely complex subplot to this already idea-stuffed book, his characters are forced to divulge what's happening. (''You still haven't explained what exactly Lacebark are doing in London. Is it something to do with the Shan forest Concession?'') It's strange that an author who's so fascinated by the human drive for pleasure would forget that great books are like great drugs. They can be as mind-bending as you like. But first, they have to be fun. B+

MEMORABLE LINE ''When Barky does arrive he still wears flecks of shaving cream on both ear lobes like little pearl studs, so maybe, like Raf, he got out of bed only a short while ago.''

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Book Review: Glow

Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes – Extra Op’s – Deja Vu – HARD DIFFICULTY – Playing as CYBORG NINJA – Video

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Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes - Extra Op #39;s - Deja Vu - HARD DIFFICULTY - Playing as CYBORG NINJA
Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes - Extra Op #39;s - Deja Vu - HARD DIFFICULTY - Playing as Cyborg Ninja from MGS1 PS1! Casual playthrough for fun. *ALL CUT SCENES INCLUDED IN THIS ...

By: Rebel Gamer

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Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes - Extra Op's - Deja Vu - HARD DIFFICULTY - Playing as CYBORG NINJA - Video

Q Station Sydney – Meetings Conferences & Event Facilities located on Manly’s Northern Beaches – Video

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Q Station Sydney - Meetings Conferences Event Facilities located on Manly #39;s Northern Beaches
A video tour of this iconic Sydney Conference Event Venue located on Manly #39;s Northern Beaches including the accommodation function rooms, Boilerhouse Harbourside Restaurant, sandy beaches ...

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Q Station Sydney - Meetings Conferences & Event Facilities located on Manly's Northern Beaches - Video

Push made to keep beaches, pools open after Labor Day

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It's no day at the beach for New Yorkers looking for sun and sand after Labor Day but one city pol wants to change that.

A bill to be introduced Thursday by Councilman Mark Levine would require the city to keep city beaches and pools open until the first day of school, and on weekends through the end of September.

Beaches and pools officially close on Labor Day, when lifeguards leave their posts.

Levine, chairman of the parks committee, recalled that last September, beaches and pools closed on Monday and school didnt open until Thursday.

The days in between were glorious late-summer days, the Manhattan Democrat said. Many New Yorkers wanted to go to beaches and pools, and couldnt.

Under the bill, the Parks Department would also have the option to open beaches on weekdays in September after the start of school, but would not be required to.

The department has objected to extending the season because many lifeguards are students who head back to school at the start of September.

But Levine said not all lifeguards are schoolkids, and plenty who attend classes in the city could still work weekends.

With enough planning, they could manage to fully staff the swimming spots, he said.

He could not say how much the proposal would cost, and the Parks Department would not comment.

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Push made to keep beaches, pools open after Labor Day

Auckland builds new beaches

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SEAN WILLIS/Stuff.co.nz

Auckland will have a new beach spot when the Onehunga Restoration Project is completed, adding to the already popular Mission Bay and Orewa beaches.

Auckland's beaches might look natural but 20 popular spots have ongoing maintenance or in the case of a major new project in Onehunga project, are completely manmade.

Nine entirely new beaches are being created as part of the Onehunga Foreshore Restoration Project, which is thought to be the world's largest foreshore reclamation project for recreational purposes.

When finished, a 6.8 hectare seaside park on reclaimed land will feature nine beaches.

Three of the beaches will be sandy for swimming, requiring about 11,000 cubic metres of sand to be trucked in from Ports of Auckland.

The new coastline will stretch more than 1 kilometre. The project is costing $28 million - $18m from NZTA and $10m from the council's Maungakiekie-Tamaki Local Board.

The foreshore, which is Auckland Council's parks department's largest capital project, will open in time for next summer.

Auckland Council parks manager Jane Aickin said the Onehunga project might be the biggest beach development, but numerous other beaches across Auckland were "nourished" with sand brought in from other places or redistributed along the beach.

Auckland had more than 1600km of coastline and some of them needed intense management to provide coastal protection and make the beaches look better, Aickin said.

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Auckland builds new beaches

More beaches closed due to high surf, warning in effect

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It was a big day of surf for Hawaiis north- and west-facing shores Wednesday.

A high surf warning was in effect for north- and west-facing shores of Niihau, Kauai, Oahu and Molokai, and north-facing shores of Maui and west-facing shores of the Big Island.

The swell was expected to peak Wednesday night and fade Thursday to 20-30 feet for the North Shore and 12-18 feet for the west shore.

Due to hazardous conditions, the state Department of Land and Natural Resources and City and County of Honolulu announced the following closures:

Meanwhile, State Parks personnel are monitoring Lapakahi State Historical Park and Kekaha Kai State Park to determine if any action is needed in those areas.

But that didnt keep surfers out of the water.

On Oahu, ocean safety officials recorded 34 rescues in West Oahu (12 in Makaha) with 447 preventative actions, nine rescues on the North Shore (three at Sunset Beach, six at Waimea Bay) with 1,403 preventative actions and several broken boards.

Its so strong out there, just pulling you in so many directions, and if youre not sure which way to go and instead youre fighting it, youll become so tired and weak that theres just not much you can do, said Ocean Safety and Lifeguard Services spokeswoman Shayne Enright.

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More beaches closed due to high surf, warning in effect