Update on Brentwood Couple Given Controversial Pardon From President (bankruptcy filed)

Hmmmmm

nothing to see here, move along...

Thu. March 01.2001 7:57 PM EST

Subject of Controversial Pardon Owns Jim Reeves Estate

Ed Gregory, convicted of bank fraud, also owns Faron Young's publishing copyrights.

by Chet Flippo

A Tennessee man in the middle of the latest Clinton pardon scandal has extensive country music holdings, including ownership of the estate of late country superstar Jim Reeves and the late Faron Young's publishing copyrights.

The New York Times reported on Thursday (March 1) that former President Clinton's brother-in-law Tony Rodham lobbied for the March 2000 pardon of Edgar Gregory and his wife, Vonna Jo. The Gregorys, who live near Nashville in Smyrna, Tennessee, were convicted of bank fraud in 1982, and their pardon went virtually unnoticed until Clinton's recent end-of-term pardons raised so many eyebrows.

The paper said Tony Rodham received no money for his efforts, although he conceded that he does have financial ties to the Gregorys and has worked for their company, United Shows of America, as a consultant in radio station purchases and carnival business dealings. The Gregorys are major campaign contributors to both Democrats and Republicans, and contributed to Hillary Rodham Clinton's Senate campaign, according to the Times.

United Shows of America is identified in company literature as a "major traveling amusement company." It owns a 122,000-square-foot exposition center, known as I-24 Expo, in Smyrna, about 15 miles east of Nashville. The company also stages carnival operations for fairs. The Times article said Gregory had sought a pardon because his felony conviction prevented him from doing carnival business in some states. With Rodham's intervention, Gregory staged a carnival on the White House lawn in June 1998, the Times reports.

In a transaction that is still involved in legal action in Nashville, United Shows of America took control of Davis' widow's assets in 1996 for $7.3 million, according to court papers. The estate had been controlled by Mary Reeves Davis' nephew, Bill White, who also does Jim Reeves soundalike shows and pastors a church in Duncanville, Texas.

Reeves Davis died in a Nashville nursing home in November 1999 and was interred in a mausoleum in Nashville. According to family accounts, she had been suffering from Alzheimer's Disease. The estate included the Jim Reeves name, the Jim Reeves Museum in Nashville, a home in Madison, Tennessee, other acreage and assets, and Reeves' publishing copyrights.

At the time, White also turned over control of the Jim Reeves Memorial Park in east Texas, although it may not have been specifically listed in her assets. (After her remarriage and the involvement of many relatives, some of the estate's boundaries became blurred). The park, near Carthage, Texas, where Reeves grew up, includes Jim Reeves' grave and the nearby grave of his dog Cheyenne. A spokesperson for the Panola County Chamber of Commerce said, "We're not sure who owns the Memorial Park. We've been told that Ed Gregory does. He has the maintenance done on it."

United Shows is now operating the official Jim Reeves Web Site, where it is selling Reeves posters for $1,250 and $1,500, gold records for $2,500 and dozens of telegrams, to and from such people as Col. Tom Parker and Charlie Rich, for $1,000 each. The guitar section is empty, although a number of Reeves' vintage guitars apparently were included in the estate.

A pending lawsuit in Nashville by the administrator of the Reeves Davis estate accuses Gregory and White of conspiring to get the Jim Reeves estate. Earlier litigation has involved Reeves and Davis relatives challenging the value and disposition of estate holdings.

Jim Reeves, who died in a 1964 plane crash near Nashville, is still popular, especially in Europe. He was an early country-to-pop crossover artist, with such hits as "He'll Have to Go" (RealAudio excerpt) and "Four Walls" (RealAudio excerpt).

Faron Young died on December 9, 1996, of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, after being despondent for years as his singing career waned.

NewsMax.com Wires

Friday, March 2, 2001

NEW YORK (UPI) – Former president Bill Clinton's brother-in-law Tony Rodham helped obtain a presidential pardon for a Tennessee couple last March over the objections of the Justice Department, the New York Times reported Thursday.

In an interview with the Times, Rodham acknowledged that he had asked the president to pardon Edgar Allen Gregory Jr. and his wife, Vonna Jo. The Gregorys were convicted of bank fraud in 1982, accused of using the assets of a bank they owned to give loans to friends.

Edgar Allen Gregory, Jr. S.D. Alabama 1986 Conspiracy to willfully misapply bank funds, make false statements to a bank, and commit wire fraud; misapplication of bank funds by person connected with a bank; 18 USC 371, 656, and 2.

Vonna Jo Gregory S.D. Alabama 1986 Conspiracy to willfully misapply bank funds, make false statements to a bank, and commit wire fraud; misapplication of bank funds by person connected with a bank; 18 USC 371, 656, and 2.

Pardoned Couple Say Access Has Served Them Well
By KEVIN SACK
NYTimes
March 10, 2001

NASHVILLE, March 8 - The spacious office that Edgar and Vonna Jo Gregory share in the Nashville suburb of Smyrna has become a presidential portrait gallery over the years. The walls are papered with White House photographs of the couple posing with every president back to Richard M. Nixon. Most were taken at political fund-raisers. There are 10 autographed pictures of former President Bill Clinton. Room has already been made for several photos of President Bush, and for a cowboy hat he signed during last year's campaign.

The Gregorys have never minded flaunting their access to power. They talk about staying at Camp David with the Clintons, and flying aboard Air Force One with the Carters. And despite a barrage of media attention during the last week, they offer no apologies for having enlisted Mr. Clinton's brother-in-law Tony Rodham to make the case for the presidential pardons they received last March 15. The Gregory pardons, for convictions on federal bank fraud charges, have been criticized because they were opposed by the Justice Department and because Mr. Rodham has had a consulting contract with the Gregorys since 1997. Neither he nor they will disclose the size of the contract or the full nature of his work for them, raising questions about whether he was being compensated to lobby Mr. Clinton on their behalf.

The Gregorys, who own a successful carnival company and have been heavy political contributors for three decades, acknowledge that their connections gave them access that other pardon-seekers did not enjoy. But in a lengthy interview this week, they said they saw nothing wrong with asking Mr. Rodham for help, particularly after Mr. Clinton failed to include them on a list of pardons granted at Christmas in 1999. "I did ask him after we weren't on that Christmas pardon list of '99 if he could help us, and I don't see anything wrong with that," said Mr. Gregory, 63. "I mean, he was a friend. His brother-in-law is the president of the United States. And I asked if he could help me." Mrs. Gregory, 62, agreed with her husband of 43 years. "I don't think we did anything wrong in the pardon process," she said. "I don't think the president did, nor did Tony or anyone else involved. And I would hope that through all this we don't jeopardize that process for all other Americans after us that are deserving of a pardon."

The Gregorys also maintained their innocence of the charges they pleaded guilty to in Mobile, Ala., in 1986 and blamed personality conflicts with banking examiners for their troubles. But those who prosecuted the Gregorys said their activities as owners of several small Alabama banks were blatantly fraudulent, including arranging unsecured loans to themselves, their friends and other companies they owned. State regulators closed one struggling bank in 1978 shortly after the Gregorys sold it, and afterward the Gregorys filed for bankruptcy.

"They drained the banks that they were majority shareholders in and just ran them into the ground for this interconnecting web of companies they owned," said Ginny S. Granade, the assistant United States attorney who tried the case. "They ran those banks with an iron fist." The Gregorys also used the Wilcox County Bank in Camden, Ala., to buy goods from their other companies, according to prosecutors. At one point, the bank ordered 10,000 job application forms from a Gregory- owned company for a bank with 20 employees in a town of 2,000 people, according to an appellate court brief.

The Gregorys' initial convictions were reversed by an appeals court in 1984, largely on technical grounds, and they then pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy and misapplication of bank funds. Mr. Gregory said they hoped to avoid the time and expense of another trial. Both received probationary sentences.

Mr. Rodham, a consultant based in Washington, has said that he did in fact ask Mr. Clinton to consider pardoning the Gregorys and that he emphasized that their felony convictions were hampering their business dealings. The Gregorys say that some large fairs have refused to consider their bids to provide rides, games and other concessions because of their criminal records.

Mr. Rodham said he never asked for or received any money for his efforts, and Mr. Gregory said that no pardon-related payments had been concealed under Mr. Rodham's consulting contract. "We have a business contract with Tony Rodham," Mr. Gregory said, adding that he pays Mr. Rodham by the job. "The compensation definitely fits the work he's done. He has not been overpaid." Mr. Rodham's work for them, Mr. Gregory said, has ranged from helping to negotiate a local fair contract with Alabama officials to bringing them investment possibilities.

At one point, Mr. Gregory said, he dispatched Mr. Rodham to Dubai to investigate an offer they had to mount a fair there. Mr. Rodham also asked the Gregorys to consider buying some radio stations, and to invest in a now infamous $118 million venture that the Rodham brothers conceived to grow and export hazelnuts from the Republic of Georgia, he said. Their partner turned out to be a political rival of President Eduard A. Shevardnadze, whose unstable government had the support of the Clinton administration. The Gregorys chose not to invest, and the administration later forced the Rodhams to kill the deal. The Gregorys said that Mr. Rodham introduced himself to them at a Democratic fund-raiser in Washington during Mr. Clinton's first term. They already knew Mr. Clinton from their financial support of his 1992 presidential campaign.

Edgar Allen Gregory Jr. and his wife, Vonna Jo, are classic Nashville characters who collect guitars autographed by country music legends and decorate their house at Christmas with a million lights. He is a California native and the son of a Navy seaman who was killed during World War II. He left high school to join the Navy himself in 1954, and met his wife, a Missouri native and one of nine children, after picking up her hitchhiking brother in 1957. They eloped two weeks later. Ever since taking a job selling DeSotos in 1957, Mr. Gregory has proved to be something of a natural salesman. Over the years, the couple have owned car dealerships, motels, banks and a propane gas company, among others. In most cases, they bought struggling companies, made them profitable, and then sold them after a few years. "I've always said that he would sell me if he could make a good deal on me," Mrs. Gregory said. "He just can't find anybody." "I'm working on it," Mr. Gregory quipped.

These days, the Gregorys' diversified business interests include their company, United Shows of America, which mounts the Florida State Fair and more than 30 other carnivals a year. A report by "Dateline NBC" several years ago leveled charges that games of skill and chance were rigged on United Shows fairways. Mr. Gregory said at the time that he thought the games were legal but would investigate the complaints.

The Gregorys also own an exposition center near here and have bought the rights to the music of country singers like the late Jim Reeves and Faron Young. The couple were "honored and humbled," in Mr. Gregory's words, to mount carnivals on the White House lawn for a series of parties in both 1998 and 2000. The arrangement was brokered by Mr. Rodham at the request of the Clintons.

The Gregorys have long been politically active, particularly during the nearly 20 years that their felony convictions prohibited them from voting. They say they consider themselves Democrats, but support candidates from both parties. In last year's presidential race, they gave to both Mr. Bush and to former Vice President Al Gore. In the last three two-year campaign cycles, their company has ranked among the top six entertainment industry companies in contributions to federal candidates and committees, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonprofit group that tracks political money. During 1999 and 2000, the Gregorys, their children, United Shows and its employees gave $294,000, with 89 percent of the donations going to Democrats, the group found. Among the recipients of their contributionsover the years have been a number of politicians in positions to influence the awarding of fair contracts. Money, Mr. Gregory said, clearly buys access. "I do believe that that does make a difference," he said. "The average person on the street sometimes would not have the privilege of some of the invitations we've received only because we were in a position to support major candidates and know who they were and become friends."

March 23, 2002 Posted: 6:21 PM EST (2321 GMT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Clinton did not follow normal procedures when he pardoned a couple convicted of bank fraud who paid his brother-in-law, Tony Rodham, nearly $245,000 to be a consultant, the man who oversaw their prosecution said Saturday.

"Pardons should follow normal procedures and in this case it is clear President Clinton didn't follow that protocol," said Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Alabama, who was a U.S. attorney in Alabama when carnival owner Edgar Allen Gregory and his wife, Vonna Jo, were convicted of bank fraud in 1982.

The committee's report also said Clinton "abused" his clemency power by giving pardons to people who could afford high-priced lobbyists like former White House counsel Jack Quinn or Clinton relatives to plead their cases.

"Marc Rich, Pincus Green, Carlos Vignali, Glenn Braswell, Edgar Gregory and Vonna Jo Gregory were all extremely wealthy, and were able to hire Jack Quinn, Tony Rodham and Hugh Rodham to lobby the White House and short-circuit the normal clemency review procedures," the report says.

Professional courtesy...

The couple denies giving anyone money for the pardon.

Of course they are going to deny it. Anyone associated with the Klintoon's deny and lie about everything.

ed gregory did a lot more than he is getting credit for, for him to earn a place to play the white house,he may be pardoned by the president only peolpe fully in formed should even offer an opinion whether it was justified. how many free sunday rides to seniors has ed given away in the past 5 yrs or 10 or 15yrs . i have personnally played the white houe with an italian made twisterby sartori with ed gregory and united shows and i think we did an outstanding job considrering the security inhibitions and time allowed to set up equipment.i would play there again with mr gregory at any time.and feel he is being unjustly persecuted by biased media and nit picking beaurocrats.

Aside from all of this, Jim Reeves songs are some of my favorites.