Feb 07, 2011 - 11:17:36 PST.

http://www.fbnewsleader.com/articles/2011/02/07/news/00newsfurmanclark.txt

Local businessman Furman Clark Jr., a felon once convicted of manslaughter and other crimes, was arrested Wednesday for fraud, grand theft and money laundering. He was accused of swindling two couples out of $250,000 for bogus investments.

Clark, 62, whose address was listed as 95078 Barclay Place, Amelia Island, was held in the Nassau County Jail on $300,000 bond. His bond was reduced to $150,000 at a court hearing Thursday.

Clark is charged with one count of an organized scheme to defraud, four counts of grand theft and one count of money laundering.

The arrest followed a months-long investigation by the state Bureau of Financial Regulations.

According to the affidavit for arrest warrant, Ronald and Deborah Price of Fernandina Beach and Scott and Brenda Sherwood of Suwannee, Ga., invested $250,000 in three companies controlled by Clark - Novus Ordo Investments LLC, FTR Timberlands LLC and Clark-Price Ventures LLC. The complaint stated that "contrary to written and oral representations by Clark, the investment objectives were non-existent, illusory and created by Clark for the purpose of defrauding the investors."

Clark allegedly "diverted those funds for his personal use and benefit" and has not returned them to the investors, as demanded.

The affidavit said Price gave Clark $200,000 in 2008 for down payments on the purchase of land for development. "Clark presented himself to Price as a successful developer and did not disclose his prior felony conviction or past and current financial problems," it stated.

The affidavit said the Sherwoods gave Clark $50,000 in 2008 for investment in a mitigation bank, which is land used to offset development on other land. "Clark promised the Sherwoods a $500,000 return on their investment or the return of their $50,000 in four months in the event the deal did not go through," it said.

The Sherwoods did not receive a return on their investment, according to the affidavit. "They eventually learned . . . that Clark was a convicted felon and had past financial problems including substantial federal tax liabilities. "Brenda Sherwood said she would not have invested with Clark had she known about his past," it stated.

The affidavit states that Clark put the money into his personal checking account or that of Furman Clark Construction Co., his business. It stated he used part of the money to pay federal tax and wrote payroll checks to himself and his son, Trip Clark, and "to pay personal living expenses, club membership fees, expenses for horses and personal medical bills."

Furman and Trip Clark are authorized signers on the checking account for Furman Clark Construction Co.

Furman Clark is accused of using some of the investor money to pay a firm that filed a foreclosure lawsuit against him and his wife in 2005.

Clark was arrested Wednesday afternoon as he left the weekly luncheon meeting of the Fernandina Beach Rotary Club, of which he is a member. Trip Clark is president of the Rotary Club.

Clark's other son, Russ Clark, is a Nassau County Sheriff's deputy. His daughter-in-law, Marlyne Clark, is the sheriff's attorney.

In November 2001, Folio Weekly published an extensive profile of Clark that detailed what it called "The Secret Life of Furman Clark."

Clark, a North Carolina native, was 36 years old when he moved to Wilmington Island, Ga., where a local attorney disappeared in 1985 after arranging dinner with Clark to discuss selling a boat to him, Folio Weekly said. Julian Singman's body was discovered in marsh grass a month later with four bullet wounds.

According to Folio, police found the gun used in the crime, clothes with Singman's blood on them, the dead man's watch, money clip and credit cards in Clark's possession. But a case for murder was not made, and Clark ultimately pleaded guilty to manslaughter and served time in prison. He was released in 1996.

Folio also described Clark as a "con man," detailing a series of what it called "shady business deals" in North Carolina and Georgia. He was sentenced to six years for such crimes in North Carolina, serving that sentence concurrently with his manslaughter sentence.

Clark also was accused of stealing from chambers of commerce in Macon, Ga., and Vicksburg, Miss., where he worked, the newspaper said. It detailed "a history of deception," ranging from accusations of stealing a boat, defrauding an innkeeper, stealing timber, obtaining property under false pretenses and other scams.

The court allowed Clark to serve his probation in North Carolina, according to Folio, and there he began a partnership with William J. Fields in property development. Their most prominent project was Duck Landing on the Outer Banks.

Clark was still on probation when he decided to move to Fernandina Beach in 2000. Furman Clark Construction LLC was incorporated that year by Clark and Fields.

A major controversy involving Clark's business here was a proposal to develop Martin Island as luxury housing. The island subsequently was purchased by the state to prevent development.

Rumors of Clark's past began to circulate after his arrival here, and the business partnership broke up after Fields learned of it, Clark told Folio. Fields and Clark dissolved FCX/Fields Clark Holdings LLC in 2001, and split their businesses. The historic building that then carried their name, now being considered as a possible future home of the local library, was sold and subsequently sold again last year as part of foreclosure proceedings.

Clark developed Cartesian Point, a proposed 220-house residential development in Yulee, and continued to operate Furman Clark Construction and Furman Clark Crane & Rigging LLC as well as other businesses.