The offices of Express Grain Terminals LLC were visited by federal and state law enforcement agents Thursday morning.
FBI agents and law enforcement representing the Mississippi attorney general were seen at Express Grain’s offices at its plant on River Road Extended.
Law enforcement was also spotted at the Greenwood home of Express Grain president John Coleman on Robert E. Lee Drive.
According to a neighbor, about a dozen vehicles, including some with armed FBI agents, descended on Coleman’s home Thursday morning. An unknown quantity of material was taken from the home, and a law enforcement agent could be seen taking photographs. Coleman was there at the time of the raid and later left with his family, the neighbor said.
Michelle Williams, a spokesperson with the Attorney General’s Office, said there is an ongoing investigation with Express Grain but could not comment further.
The office had previously confirmed that it was looking into whether Coleman had committed fraud by providing doctored financial records to state regulators.
FBI spokesperson Taylor Pavich said in an email Thursday, “Together with other state and federal agencies, the FBI’s Evidence Response Team is conducting court authorized law enforcement activities at 3 locations in Greenwood.”
The third location being targeted could not be immediately determined.
The law enforcement activity comes on the eve of an auction for Express Grain’s facilities, scheduled for Friday, as it continues through bankruptcy proceedings that began in September.
The company owes more than $156 million to farmers, banks and other entities.
Coleman is no longer involved in the day-to-day management of the company. That responsibility is now handled by Dennis Gerrard, the chief restructuring officer from CR3 Partners LLC, a turnaround firm hired to help guide Express Grain during its bankruptcy.
Coleman and his company have been accused by several parties of misrepresentation and fraud.
Earlier this month, the Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce revoked Express Grain’s grain warehouse licenses in Greenwood, Sidon and Minter City, citing the company submitting falsified audit documents when it renewed its licenses last summer.
The state agency also found that falsified documents had been submitted for two other years.
Express Grain’s largest creditor, UMB Bank of Kansas City, Missouri, has also alleged it received a falsified audit report, and it has accused Coleman of misrepresenting the company’s grain inventory so Express Grain could borrow more money than it would have been able to otherwise.
The bank is holding Coleman and his father, Greenwood ophthalmologist Dr. Michael Coleman, responsible for the more than $70 million owed by the company.
Farmers who delivered grain last fall to Express Grain but were not paid for it have also accused Coleman of fraud, citing a positive email from Coleman encouraging deliveries of grain shortly before the company declared bankruptcy.
- Contact Kevin Edwards at 662-581-7233 or kedwards@gwcommonwealth.com.
The original version of this article incorrectly identified Dr. Michael Coleman as an optometrist.
