[[TICKET CONNECTION FOR NEWCOMERS: Reagor-Dykes Auto Group ads, featuring folksy Bart Reagor, a man who never threw a touchdown pass like Tony Romo, but who could get you Any Car U Want, were ubiquitous on The Ticket for quite some time, before his empire went all completely to hell over the course of a few days in the summer of 2018.]]
* * *
A Lubbock jury has found Bart Reagor personally liable to pay Ford Credit $53.7 million and change.
Bart Reagor, Radio Advertising Pioneer |
Shane Andrew Smith, Fraudster |
What he was not innocent of (along with Dykes, who settled earlier with Ford Credit) was signing a personal guaranty of Reagor-Dykes's indebtedness to Ford Credit. Those things are pretty ironclad; when the primary debtor (the dealership) doesn't pay, you gotta pay and I mean now and no backtalk, and there's almost nothing available to you as a defense, including that the default is someone else's fault (it frequently is). In fact, 'ol Bart's argument was that the amount of money Ford claimed was much, much more than its actual losses.
The jury did not agree and awarded Ford every penny it sought. The court had already ruled that the guaranty was valid -- this trial was more or less about where to put the decimal point.
Ol' Bart probably wishes he hadn't threatened to shoot the Ford Credit auditor who showed up to check his books. (Ford Credit came back a couple of days later with the Ford corporate security team.) No, he probably wishes he'd made nice and made a deal with Ford, which (as these things usually go) was probably available to him. After all, the whole thing was more sordid than just a rogue executive screwing Ford Credit. Rick Dykes has alleged that one of Smith's direct reports, one Pepper Rickman
Pepper Rickman, Enchantress |
was having an affair with a Ford Credit guy. (https://www.kcbd.com/2019/03/21/rick-dykes-reveals-corruption-secrets-affairs-within-rdag-witness-statement/) He said that Ms. Rickman was tipped off to audits in advance and alerted Smith, who moved things around to enable Reagor-Dykes to stave off the day of reckoning.
But no, ol' Bart got his back up and refused to pay, and now he's going to have a court order telling him yeah, you gotta. I assume he'll appeal.
I'm thinking: You know, he probably wasn't as nice a guy as he tried to make us think he was in all those ads. I mean, it's possible.
I'm glad he didn't shoot Tony Romo.
* * *
ThePlainsman1310@gmail.com
@Plainsman1310
Automotive News covered this
ReplyDeleteSure d@mn did.
DeletePlainsman, read the various articles at autonews.com over the last three weeks to get a deeper look into it all, including the guilty pleas from two Reagor-Dykes female employees (Office Manager and Comptroller) who committed bank fraud by being the ones actually kiting the checks.
https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndtx/pr/two-reagor-dykes-employees-plead-guilty-bank-fraud-conspiracy
I, for one, appreciate all that P-Man did to summarize this, and for that matter all that he's done to his body.
ReplyDeleteJust heard an ad for Baby Dolls. And apparently the Chicas Locas ads are back in rotation. Wasn't there a time that ads for gentlemen's clubs only ran during the overnight programming?
ReplyDeleteI've read all those articles and many more. Just trying to boil it down for the Confessor.
ReplyDeleteAnd my boildown mentions the other employees guilty of the fraud, although their gender struck me as irrelevant.
ReplyDelete"In fact, 'ol Bart's argument was that the amount of money Ford claimed was much, much less than its actual losses."
ReplyDeleteI assume you meant "much, much more"?
Anyway, when I was looking for a car back in 2017, I went to Bart's site because I knew exactly what I wanted: make, model, year, options, etc. I thought I could punch in my particulars--or talk to someone--and they'd say, "Okay, sir, we'll track down some options for you." I quickly determined that the site and business really weren't set up to do that at all, and that a broker or buyer would be in a much better position to help me.
I just always thought it was weird to present your business as something when it was not really that thing. But I guess it got me to the site, and got Bart to many Beast Feasts.
David, thank you for the correction. You are correct. I will make the correction in the text.
ReplyDeleteThe interview with the pool legends on Work in Progress this morning is absolutely fascinating. I should have written down the names of the two guys, but one of them is speaking movingly, although without emotion, of the decline of his skills and advancing age. The interview is probably not going the way Justin and David intended, but it's fascinating listening.
ReplyDeleteI have no particular brief for the Longhorns, and I am not a gigantic college football fan so it didn't break my heart that Texas lost. But please, one of you is going to have to tell me:
ReplyDeleteWas that the most listless, unskilled, weak, just flat pathetic and sad exhibition of TACKLING in the history of the game?
Were the Sooners' uniforms made of flubber?
The pool players being interviewed are: Earl Strickland and Skyler Woodward.
ReplyDeleteAs an orangeblood, I will say the Horns lack of tackling was pretty sad. But confirmation from Corby will be more definitive.
ReplyDeleteNothing like wanting to get the full Bob Sturm dissection of the Cowboys (Jason Garrett) humiliation against Jets only to be cut short by an exciting early season afternoon F'ing hockey game. I swear being the flagship station for the Stars is going to be the death of the Ticket.
ReplyDeleteI soooo wish they would get rid of the Stars! It wouldn't bother me if the Stars left Dallas altogether!
ReplyDeleteThe idea of hockey on the radio is ridiculous on its face.
ReplyDelete