Judge removes Scott Walker as manager of dad’s finances over ‘misspending’
Scott Walker is jeopardizing his father’s freedom by misspending his money instead of using it to repay the government for fraud, a federal judge said Tuesday.
An only child, Scott Walker testified that he has been managing the finances of parents Bill and Sharon Walker since his father was released from prison in 2017. Bill Walker was then near the end of a five-year prison sentence for defrauding the federal government while he served as director of the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources.
Scott Walker was convicted in the case, too, and also in a separate fraud case. Father and son are supposed to be making monthly payments on hundreds of thousands of dollars they owe, but those payments abruptly stopped in February.
Bill Walker, who is still under court supervision, faced returning to prison for failing to make monthly court-ordered payments of $5,000, plus an additional $1,000 a month to catch up on payments he had previously missed.
Bill Walker’s memory is failing, U.S. District Judge Keith Starrett learned, and he has been relying on Scott Walker for help.
Starrett decided that a guardian should be appointed to oversee Bill Walker’s money, removing his son from the equation.
“It’s just the right thing to do,” Starrett said. “Your dad is facing time in federal prison and I’ve seen it’s because his money is being misspent and he’s not paying restitution.”
Starrett could revoke Bill Walker’s supervised release and return him to prison for about a year left on his sentence, which was originally five years to serve behind bars.
The judge also ordered Scott Walker to produce a raft of financial records over the next 10 days to document the expenses of Bill and Sharon Walker, both of whom have doctoral degrees and draw around $17,000 a month in retirement pay.
Tuesday’s hearing centered on Bill and Sharon Walker’s income and expenses, highlighting the debts they have taken on, partly to help their son, and the mistakes Scott Walker has made in managing their money.
The hearing will resume within two weeks, with a date to be set, Starrett said.
Where the money goes
Scott Walker acknowledged on the witness stand that he, like his father, is a convicted felon and might not be trusted to manage his parents’ money. He said that he even has questioned some of the decisions he has made.
Bill Walker was in Starrett’s courtroom two years ago for failing to pay restitution. At that time, Starrett sent him to jail for two weeks before extricating a promise from the Walkers that they would cut monthly expenses and make the restitution payments. Starrett refused to lower the payments, saying the Walkers would have to stop “living large.”
Scott Walker testified Tuesday that his parents did cut out some expenses, such as monthly lawn care. But they were unable to refinance his parents’ house because it was being used as collateral on a piece of property Scott Walker had bought.
That same piece of property resulted in the fraud conviction against father and son, who used money from the Department of Marine Resources so that a nonprofit could buy the lot where Hurricane Katrina had destroyed Scott Walker’s house.
Bill and Sharon Walker, who built their house in 1977, still have a $246,000 mortgage.
Scott Walker said the Walkers also were unable to sell his mother’s Mercedes Benz because $50,000 was owed on the car and it was worth only $42,000. In addition, the Walkers are making minimum monthly payments on two credit cards that are maxed out.
Bill and Sharon Walker also failed to rid themselves of monthly payments for two life insurance policies that listed their son as beneficiary, something Starrett had recommended during the 2018 hearing. Scott Walker said Tuesday that the policies now list the first two of his three sons as beneficiaries.
Walkers borrowed money to repay government
Instead, all three Walkers took out a series of 11 loans, Scott Walker testified, to make the restitution payments.
Monthly payments on the loans are $4,458 — close to the monthly restitution Bill Walker owes. Scott Walker said it did not occur to him to make payments on the restitution instead of the loans, which have a principal balance of about $106,000.
“Eleven loans?” Starrett asked Scott Walker at one point.
Scott Wallker responded that his father simply could not afford to pay $5,000 a month on restitution. With the loans, payments were being made, he said.
“When coronavirus started,” Walker said, “these lenders stopped.”
He said that he and wife Trinity do not want to sell their home in an upscale subdivision of Ocean Springs but hope to close on a sale tomorrow so that he can pay off the restitution he owes with his father and with a different co-defendant in the second case.
His father would still owe some restitution for which his son was not liable, but Scott Walker says he figures Bill Walker can repay the government in full over the next seven years, when he will be 82 years old.
Others also want Scott Walker out
Bill Walker’s probation officer and the attorney representing him in court, Steven Eckert of Biloxi, both said Scott Walker does not need to be managing his father’s finances.
Probation Officer Justin Crowe has been supervising Bill Walker since he was released from prison.
“I talked to Dr. (Bill) Walker and it is apparent that Scott Walker is 1,000% in charge of the finances,” Crowe testified before Scott Walker took the stand.
Crowe said he urged Bill Walker to put someone besides his son in charge of his money.
When he questioned Scott Walker, Eckert started off by saying, “One of the first things I told you was that I want you off your mom and dad’s finances.”
Scott Walker said he was personally proud of how much progress both he and his father have made on their restitution.
“Living large to them,” he said, “is going to Wendy’s for a No. 1 after physical therapy.”
How much is left to pay?
As part of his sentence in 2014, Bill Walker was ordered to pay $572,689.14 in restitution and a $125,000 fine. He still owes $373,247 in restitution. The fine is due once restitution is paid.
Walker already stopped paying restitution once. Starrett sent Walker back to jail for about two weeks in the fall of 2018 before releasing him with the understanding that he would cut expenses and resume the payments.
Scott Walker is no longer under court-ordered supervision. His restitution totaled $390,000 in his two cases, with $131,153.15 left to pay
This story was originally published September 29, 2020 at 1:00 PM.
