Ozarks businessman receives second round of fraud charges

An Ozarks businessman who last year was charged in a 17-count indictment including bank, wire and bankruptcy fraud schemes, as well as money laundering, was charged this week with eight additional counts of bankruptcy wrongdoing.

Richard T. Gregg, 59, of Springfield, was charged yesterday in a 25-count indictment that adds eight additional counts of bankruptcy fraud and replaces the original indictment returned in February 2013. Gregg is now charged with four counts of bank fraud, 10 counts of money laundering, two counts of wire fraud and nine counts of bankruptcy fraud, according to a news release from the office of Tammy Dickinson, U.S. attorney for the Western District of Missouri.

Gregg's resume includes work as principal shareholder and director of Southwest Community Bank in Springfield, which was shut down by regulators in May 2010; shareholder, along with his wife, in Glasgow Savings Bank, which failed in 2012; ownership interest in several businesses; and a real estate developer, investor and licensed insurance agent for Shelter Mutual Insurance Co.

Originally charged with a single count of bankruptcy fraud, four of the counts added this week also are related to his work as managing member for 1717 Marketplace LLC. The corporation he controlled filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in July 2012, the petition of which was dismissed in March 2013, according to the release.

Gregg's first count of bankruptcy fraud alleged the businessman made false declarations during the bankruptcy proceedings. He stated debtor 1717 Marketplace LLC owed him $868,000 for a personal loan and owed another person $801,000 for the same purpose. The indictment alleges Gregg knew that neither he nor the other person had lent any money in those amounts to the corporation.

The other four counts added this week were related to Gregg's personal bankruptcy case, which he filed last year after his original indictment, according to the release.

The newest indictment alleges that while contemplating the bankruptcy case with intentions to defeat provisions of rules under bankruptcy law Title 11, Gregg transferred his interest in two parcels of Nixa real estate, a 97.2-acre tract and 6.4-acre tract. The indictment also claims Gregg fraudulently transferred property of the bankruptcy estate when he filed with the Christian County Record of Deeds a document attempting to place $250 million in liens on the real and personal property of Gregg and entities he owned and controlled.

After his personal Chapter 11 bankruptcy was converted to Chapter 7 in May 2013, Gregg accepted a $40 million offer from FRS LLC and 1717 Marketplace LLC in the form of property tax abatement based on liens recorded against the property. However, according to the indictment, Gregg's interests in those companies and in his personal property became the property of the bankruptcy estate when the businessman initiated his personal case on March 19, 2013, according to the release.

According to the indictment, Gregg's personal bankruptcy case indicates he owns assets valued at $145 million against debts of $325.5 million, leaving a deficiency of $180.5 million.

The remaining charges against Gregg are unchanged from the original indictment.

Gregg also is charged with a scheme to defraud Southwest Community Bank, Great Southern Bank, Metropolitan National Bank and Peoples Bank of the Ozarks, as well as bouncing checks at two Oklahoma casinos, according to Springfield Business Journal archives.[[In-content Ad]]