Holliday Bankruptcy Meeting Begins Friday

Kade Holliday

You probably saw last week that disgraced former Craighead County Clerk Jacob “Kade” Holliday was indicted on 11 counts of federal wire fraud for allegedly taking more than $1.4 million in county money for his personal use.

But did you know that his Chapter 7 bankruptcy is moving forward too? His meeting of creditors is set for Friday, where trustee Hamilton Mitchell of Little Rock will be able to quiz Holliday, under oath, about his debts. Creditors are also allowed to question Holliday.

Holliday has listed several items as exempt in his bankruptcy, meaning he doesn’t want them sold to satisfy creditors. Holliday listed $3.8 million in debts and $1.6 million in assets, according to his Oct. 1 filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

Those exempt items include several checking accounts with a total of about $4,500, his 2007 Mini Cooper, a custom dining room table and chairs, four Samsung televisions, a Klipsch sound bar, silver worth about $5,700, Arkansas State University Red Wolf collectibles, a grandfather clock and a Peloton bike.

Of course, the trustee can challenge those exemptions. The trustee also is expected to comb through Holliday’s case to see if any debts were incurred fraudulently. If so, that could result in Holliday not getting a discharge on those debts.

As you know, the bankruptcy code is set up to protect the innocent debtor, but someone who’s involved in criminal conduct and tries to use bankruptcy as protection doesn’t receive a lot of sympathy from the judge.

Last week, a federal grand jury alleged that Holliday, as the elected county clerk in Craighead County, transferred money from the clerk’s banking account to his own personal and business accounts, according to the news release from Cody Hiland, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas. The alleged crimes occurred from Jan. 29 to June 24.

The maximum penalty for wire fraud is up to 20 years in federal prison, a fine of up to $250,000 and up to three years of supervised release. And if convicted on any of the 11 counts, Holliday has to forfeit all property traced to the crime.

The indictment was anticipated, Holliday’s attorney, Dustin McDaniel of the law firm McDaniel Wolff & Benca PLLC of Little Rock, said in a statement to Whispers. “We have been cooperating with the United States attorney’s office and will continue to do so,” he said. “However, until we can review the specifics of the indictment, we cannot comment further.”