By John LovettTimes Recordjlovett@swtimes.com<\/a> <\/p>\n A current lawsuit by First Western Bank names Arkansas state Sen. Jake Files as a defendant with his company, FFH Construction, and several financial organizations he owes money to, including Arvest Bank, Centennial Bank, First National Bank, the Internal Revenue Service and others. <\/p>\n First National Bank has filed a countersuit for assets Files company owes. Answers have also been filed from Arvest and Centennial banks. The IRS, however, has relented to First Western Banks claim of superiority over FFH Construction assets. <\/p>\n According to court documents, the First Western Bank suit seeks more than $1.2 million in payment for loans made to Files since 2013, including loans for land in Fort Smith and Conway. <\/p>\n The state senator, who has announced he will not seek re-election next year, gave a deposition June 28 in Fort Smith to lawyers for First Western Bank and co-defendants Arvest and First National Bank. On recommendation from his attorney, Gunner DeLay of Fort Smith, Files invoked his Fifth Amendment privilege. <\/p>\n DeLay was unable to make the deposition, which had been ordered just two days prior to discovery ofthe location of several assets, including a scissor lift, Sky Track (large forklift) and a trencher. Files presented a list of construction equipment and checking accounts at the deposition and said some of the equipment was with subcontractors named Mike Shuffett of Pocola and Mike Gourley of Van Buren. When asked if the subcontractors had been renting the equipment from FFH Construction, Files said yes. <\/p>\n Mr. Files was as cooperative as he can be and agreed to contact the banks for additional information, Troy Gaston, attorney for First Western Bank, said by phone this week. <\/p>\n Files said by text Friday he was in the process of working with banks to restructure debt and that both Shuffett and Gourley still held the equipment in question. He told lawyers in the deposition that Shuffett and Gourley would not be under the assumption they own the items, and Files said he thought either of the two would voluntarily give those items to the banks. <\/p>\n Shuffett is married to Dianna Gonzalez Shuffett, the recipient of more than $26,000 of a $46,500 state General Improvement Fund grant for waterline work on the failed River Valley Sports Complex at Chaffee Crossing in Fort Smith. The complex was being developed by Files and Lee Webb under a nonprofit group. <\/p>\n The city of Fort Smith filed suit in May for Files and Webb, the Sebastian County election commissioner, to finish a sports complex on which they were the developers and to return $26,945.91 in state grant money. <\/p>\n The city terminated its contract with the River Valley Sports Complex on Feb. 7 after Files and Webb repeatedly missed deadlines to finish the sports complex on city-owned property at Chaffee Crossing. The city entered into the contract in March 2014, expecting the project to be completed by June 2015. The city had agreed to donate $1.6 million to the project in installments and had already donated $1.08 million before severing the contract. <\/p>\n The state grant money, a General Improvement Fund (GIF) grant, was wired to Dianna Gonzalez on Dec. 30 and was intended to be used for waterline work. <\/p>\n None of the work that Gonzalez was hired to do has been completed, although the money was wired to her, City Administrator Carl Geffken told the Times Record in May. <\/p>\n Files went under scrutiny after two of the three contractors listed on the state GIF grant application to the Western Arkansas Planning and Development District (WAPDD) said they did not submit bids for the waterline job. Files said he would provide phone records showing conversations with those two contractors took place, but those documents never surfaced. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Continue reading here: <\/p>\n Lawsuit seeks $1.2 million from state Sen. Jake Files - Times Record<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By John LovettTimes Recordjlovett@swtimes.com<\/a> A current lawsuit by First Western Bank names Arkansas state Sen. Jake Files as a defendant with his company, FFH Construction, and several financial organizations he owes money to, including Arvest Bank, Centennial Bank, First National Bank, the Internal Revenue Service and others. First National Bank has filed a countersuit for assets Files company owes Continue reading