Opinion ID: 728163
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: D. Paradies' Involvement in the Loan/Purchase Transactions

Text: 15 The Paradies defendants claim that they did not know of Jackson's interest, and claimed that they were being prosecuted for making routine business payments to Hartsfield Concessions. (Paradies Co.'s Brief at pp. 6-7.) The government showed, however, that when Jackson picked up his check, D. Paradies himself would occasionally escort Jackson to the pertinent office. Additionally, D. Paradies' secretary testified that D. Paradies, Jackson, and others attended a meeting at D. Paradies' office. During the meeting, she was asked to draw up an agreement wherein Jackson was named as a minority participant. Later, she was asked to substitute Wilbourn's name for Jackson's, and to perform the highly unusual task of destroying the documents that named Ira Jackson. 16 Perhaps the most damning evidence of D. Paradies' involvement in this scheme was that which showed that D. Paradies himself actually helped Jackson fund the $275,000 loan/purchase made to/from Wilbourn. In April of 1987, the second installment of $125,000 was due from Jackson to Wilbourn. Around that time, D. Paradies made a $50,000 loan to Jackson and declared and paid a $50,000 dividend to Hartsfield Concessions on the same day. Jackson deposited the $100,000 into the Hartsfield Concessions bank account and paid off loans that were taken to fund the payment to Wilbourn. While D. Paradies' brother, Jimmy Paradies, testified at trial that the loan was made to help out Wilbourn because Wilbourn was experiencing financial difficulty, Wilbourn testified that he knew nothing about that loan. D. Paradies and Wilbourn were not even on speaking terms at the time. Additionally, Jackson signed a personal guarantee for the repayment of the loan, which was kept on file at the Paradies offices. Govt. Exhibit 33 (attached to Brief). In July of 1988, D. Paradies paid Hartsfield Concessions a dividend of $72,000. Jackson deposited the check and, the very next day, repaid the $50,000 loan to D. Paradies from the Hartsfield Concessions account. 17 Evidence also showed that on at least two occasions when Paradies needed the signatures of the minority participants, D. Paradies' employee sent the documents to Jackson, instructing him to obtain the signatures of Goldston or Wilbourn. See Govt. Exhibits 41, 42. D. Paradies' employee testified that he sent them to Jackson because at that point everything was going through Ira. 18