Ben Elliott (left) was escorted from a county jail Aug. 28 by FBI Agent Richard Poff and Franklin County, Tenn., Sheriff Tim Fuller. (Photo by Wayne Thomas / Courtesy Winchester Herald-Chronicle)
Former Hoedowns proprietor arrested on federal charges Now living in Tenn., Ben Elliott indicted for wire fraud, money laundering
A
year
after
gay
businessman
Ben
Elliott
left
Atlanta
in
a
cloud
of
controversy,
he
was
arrested
Aug.
27
in
Winchester,
Tenn.,
following
an
extensive
federal
investigation.
At
press
time,
Elliott
was
scheduled
to
be
arraigned
Sept.
5
in
federal
court
in
Atlanta
on
multiple
charges
of
wire
fraud
and
money
laundering.
Elliott
left
town
last
summer
after
Hoedowns,
the
popular
gay
country
bar
where
his
family
had
become
the
majority
shareholder,
closed
abruptly
Aug.13,
2007.
The
contents
of
the
bar
were
later
sold
at
public
auction.
Elliott’s
tenure
at
Hoedowns
was
marked
by
anger
from
patrons
who
disliked
the
changes
he
made
to
the
Atlanta
institution,
including
dropping
its
format
of
all-country,
all-the-time
in
favor
of
multiple
drag
shows
and
theme
nights.
The
Franklin
County,
Tenn.,
Sheriff’s
Department
arrested
Elliott
on
Aug.
27.
He
was
held
overnight
in
the
county
jail,
then
transported
to
Chattanooga
and
transferred
to
federal
authorities,
said
Sheriff’s
Department
Lt.
Mike
Bell.
Elliott
is
currently
free
on
bond,
according
to
the
FBI.
FABRICATED
CONTRACTS?
The
charges
in
the
21
count
criminal
indictment
total
more
than
$25
million
in
attempted
or
successful
illegal
transactions.
They
are
similar
to
claims
in
three
federal
civil
lawsuits
against
Elliott
that
Southern
Voice
detailed
last
summer.
The
indictment
centers
on
allegations
that
Elliott
and
an
associate,
Connie
Lee
Buce,
used
a
direct
mail
business
to
make
multiple
unauthorized
withdrawals
from
the
bank
accounts
of
car
dealerships
that
had
been
his
clients.
“The
object
and
purpose
of
the
conspiracy
and
the
scheme
and
artifice
to
defraud
was
for
defendants
…
to
unjustly
enrich
themselves,”
according
to
the
recent
indictment
handed
down
by
a
federal
grand
jury
in
the
U.S.
District
Court
for
the
Northern
District
of
Georgia.
Patrick
Crosby,
spokesperson
for
the
U.S.
Attorney’s
Office
in
Atlanta,
said
federal
prosecutors
would
not
comment
prior
to
the
arraignment.
Reached
via
email
this
week,
Elliott
declined
comment
on
the
indictment.
His
attorney,
Robert
S.
Peters,
could
not
immediately
be
reached
for
comment
by
press
time.
When
Southern
Voice
reported
on
the
civil
lawsuits
last
year,
Elliott
said
the
withdrawals
were
made
on
the
advice
of
his
attorneys
and
authorized
by
fine
print
in
the
auto
dealers’
contracts.
“These
guys
all
owe
me
money,”
Elliott
said
then.
“They
all
scream
and
play
the
victim,
but
I
am
the
victim.”
The
time
period
covered
in
the
indictment
is
July
2006
through
January
2007.
Elliott
and
his
mother,
Elizabeth
Shepherd,
purchased
the
majority
interest
in
Hoedowns
in
February
2007.
According
to
the
federal
indictment,
Elliott
owned
and
operated
a
company
called
300
Up
Promotions
that
provided
direct
mail
services
to
car
dealerships
in
several
states.
Buce
was
an
employee
of
300
Up.
The
indictment
charges
that
Elliott
and
Buce
“knowingly
combined,
conspired,
confederated,
agreed,
and
had
a
tacit
understanding
with
each
other…
to
devise
and
participate
in
a
scheme
and
artifice
to
defraud
more
than
400
automobile
dealerships
throughout
the
United
States
and
the
financial
institutions
where
some
of
those
dealerships
maintained
their
bank
accounts.”
Although
the
car
dealerships
paid
their
bills
to
300
Up
in
full,
Elliott
and
Buce
deducted
additional
sums
—
often
totaling
thousands
of
dollars
each
—
from
the
dealerships’
accounts
without
authorization,
the
indictment
says.
Last
summer,
Elliott
provided
Southern
Voice
with
a
sample
contract
for
300
Up
Promotions
that
he
said
was
signed
by
all
of
the
auto
dealers
in
question.
It
said
that
if
a
contract
is
terminated,
the
dealership
can
be
required
to
pay
up
to
half
of
that
annualized
amount,
which
can
be
collected
“by
any
means
practicable,
including
direct
draft
through
the
dealership
checking
account.”
“In
my
opinion
and
in
my
counsel’s
opinion,
they
owed
me
money
and
at
some
point
that
money
had
to
be
recouped,”
Elliott
said
at
the
time.
“These
are
car
dealerships.
They
are
the
kings
of
fine
print.
This
is
not
done
to
average
consumers.”
According
to
the
new
indictment,
Elliott
ordered
Buce
to
create
the
second
page
of
the
contract
that
contained
the
clause
and
add
it
to
all
existing
300
Up
contracts
after
they
had
already
been
signed.
“Both
defendant
Elliott
and
defendant
Buce
knew
that
‘page
2’
had
never
been
provided
to
the
dealerships
and,
consequently,
was
not
a
part
of
the
contracts,”
the
indictment
states.
CIVIL
LAWSUITS
Elliott’s
alleged
activities
that
sparked
the
federal
criminal
investigation
also
drew
a
series
of
civil
lawsuits.
In
December
2006,
banking
giant
JPMorgan
Chase
sued
Elliott,
300
Up
and
another
of
his
corporations,
Chase
Holdings,
in
federal
court
in
Atlanta,
claiming
that
Elliott
intentionally
violated
JPMorgan
Chase’s
trademark
by
using
the
similar
name
—
Chase
Holdings
—
and
similar
logo
for
some
of
...
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