Restitution Ordered For Failed Beef Plant Trickles In

Richard Hall

JACKSON – Mississippi received just $175 in restitution during fiscal year 2010 from two of the men involved in the failed Mississippi Beef Processors plant in Oakland.

Richard N. Hall Jr., former owner/manager, paid $75, leaving a balance of $548,085.59 owed to the State, according to the Audit Exceptions Report issued July 31 by State Auditor Stacey E. Pickering.

James Draper, former air conditioning contractor, paid $100, leaving a balance of $24,900, the report states.

Hall pled guilty during January of 2006 in U. S. District Court to Mail Fraud and Money Laundering. He was sentenced to six years and ordered to pay restitution to the Office of the State Auditor.

Draper was convicted of Interstate Transportation of Money by Fraud and Money Laundering and was sentenced to serve 30 months and ordered to pay restitution.

The Mississippi Beef Processors plant closed in 2004 just three months after it opened. Mississippi was stuck with $55 million in state-backed loans.

The Audit Exceptions Report is a legally mandated account of misappropriated or misspent public funds and the actions taken by the Office of the State Auditor for their recovery and their return.

The total amount of funds recovered by the Office of the State Auditor for the Fiscal Year ending June 30  was $4,700,120.04.