John Taylor Lewis is facing potential arrest again.
The Little Rock businessman was ordered to pony up $107,500 to cover back alimony to his ex-wife, Kimberly, and her attorney costs.
Lewis, whose fortunes rose and fell with oil prices, has until Aug. 31 to make good after Pulaski County Circuit Judge Chip Welch found him in willful contempt.
Lewis said he didn’t have the money. Welch didn’t believe him.
It’s not the first time the judge has found Lewis in willful contempt during the disputed payout in the property settlement from his November 2012 divorce.
Judson Kidd, John Lewis’ attorney, tried to get the May 31 contempt hearing closed to the public out of concern for press coverage of his client’s business dealings.
Welch listened to Kidd’s concerns in chambers before the hearing but wasn’t moved by his arguments. “I’m not going to exclude the press from the proceedings,” Welch said at the start of the hearing. “This is a public court.”
Kidd tried a different ploy, indicating an unnamed member of the press who might be in the courtroom might be called as a potential witness. However, this person — who apparently had some connection with Arkansas Business — wasn’t on the witness list for the hearing.
“I don’t think I’m going to exclude the unnamed member of the press from the proceeding,” Welch said.
Lewis indicated that he was relying on the kindness of friends, who have loaned him money, to get by.
Lewis also noted he had a big deal in the works that could make a difference in his financial plight.
Kimberly Lewis was asked how many times he had asked for more time so he could close a deal that would make everything right. “More than I can ever come up with,” she said. “It just never happens. I think he does it just to put me off.”
Court filings indicate Lewis is delinquent on $1.3 million owed in the 2012 property settlement from the divorce. Another $1.5 million, the last installment on the $3.5 million property settlement payout, comes due in November.
“I’d almost write a check today to keep him out of jail,” Kidd told Welch back in May. Another opportunity to write that check could arrive on Aug. 31.
Bankruptcy & Foreclosure
Meanwhile back in April, John Lewis’ JKL Investment Partners LLC was jettisoned from bankruptcy court after he failed to attend meetings with creditors.
The Dec. 11 Chapter 7 filing, which followed a foreclosure action linked with his Round River home, listed assets of $274,000 and liabilities of $241,208.
A monied intervention rescued his condominium 11 days ahead of a scheduled June 26 foreclosure sale.
Marvick Investors LLC, led by Vicki Vowell, bought the delinquent $215,000 loan from Community State Bank of Bradley (Lafayette County).
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