Escambia County’s Clerk of Court is taking Newpoint Charter School owner and convicted felon Marcus May back to court over claims he can’t afford to make the same monthly payments to repay nearly $7 million he owes in fines, interest and court costs.
May, 63, was convicted in 2018 in Pensacola for committing racketeering and fraud at six different school districts around Florida.
State prosecutors say he created shell companies to sell school property at outrageous markups and pocketed millions of dollars.
May has filed motions with the state saying his financial situation has changed due to his settlement agreement with his ex-wife, and he wants to cut back significantly on the monthly payments he makes.
“We’re going on seven years after the verdict, we’re still pursuing collections,” General Counsel at Escambia County Clerk of Court and Comptroller Cody Leigh said. “Justice extends beyond the verdict and that includes the clerk’s collection duties and obligations under the statute.”
May has been paying about $7,700 a month to the Escambia County Clerk of Court’s Office as part of his restitution payment plan, but he wants to drop that amount to about $1,500 a month.
To date, the clerk’s office says he has paid a total of about $270,000.
After his conviction in Pensacola in 2018, the businessman was ordered to pay $5.5 million in fines and restitution as part of his sentencing, but that amount has ballooned to around $7 million due to interest charges.
May has been in a legal fight with the clerk’s office since April of 2020 over collection of payment, and he filed for bankruptcy in May 2021.
The county spent another six months in bankruptcy court with May until a payment plan was confirmed.
At that time, it was determined May was earning about $13,000 a month, in large part income from real estate rentals he owns across the state, among other assets.
Now May is telling his creditors, including Escambia County, that his wife is getting those real estate assets under their amended marital divorce settlement agreement and he only has $3,000 a month to divide between several creditors, leaving the county with a monthly payment of about $1,500.
“In July of this year, we got a letter from Marcus May’s attorneys that said the planned payments would be substantially reduced because his disposable income went down substantially,” Leigh said.
Unconvinced of his reasons for cutting his payments to the county by five grand a month, the clerk and legal staff pushed to have May’s federal bankruptcy case reopened to take a closer look at what has become of his assets, including the real estate he now says belongs to his ex-wife.
“We filed a motion to reopen the bankruptcy case claiming that that was an impermissible plan modification,” Leigh said, “and that’s a discretionary call by the judge. She doesn’t have to reopen it, but she did. That is the first win of round two of reopening the bankruptcy and figuring out what was sold.”
Escambia County Clerk and Comptroller Pam Childers believes the judge’s decision is a win for taxpayers and county residents who have a right to collect what the court ruled was owed due to fraud, even if it means a years long legal fight.
“It’s just amazing how they will continue to connive and protect those assets as if they are theirs when they just use the school money, the children’s money, for their benefit,” Childers said. “They just feel entitled. I mean, even sitting in prison, there’s no remorse.”
Childers said there will be more oversight in federal bankruptcy court, in part because the case will be under one judge and an appointed trustee. In state court, the case could be heard piecemeal by different judges depending on the motions filed.
“I just don’t feel like he will be able to circumvent those laws that should be enforced or those agreements that should be enforced in selling of assets because he hoodwinked how many people and for how much money and it’s the most vulnerable. It’s the children. It’s the schools,” Childers said.
Where is Marcus May now?
May started serving his 20-year sentence on Dec. 17, 2018, at Florida State Prison in Raiford, where he is listed in “medium custody.”
According to the Florida Department of Corrections website, he is scheduled to be released Oct. 7, 2036.
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