Scott Walker’s parents will no longer pay his bills, judge orders. BMW going back.
A Jackson County Chancery Court judge is putting the squeeze on Scott Walker over spending his elderly parents’ money while his father fails to pay restitution for public corruption.
A conservator has replaced the only child of Bill and Sharon Walker as manager of their finances because a federal judge found Scott Walker was misspending their retirement income. Bill and Sharon Walker’s conservatorships are being handled in Chancery Court.
Chancery Judge Neil Harris on Friday ordered the conservator, attorney Matthew Pavlov of Ocean Springs, to file lawsuits against one of Scott Walker’s companies for taking advantage of vulnerable adults, namely his parents.
At the hearing, Harris also issued orders designed to get Bill and Sharon Walker’s finances in hand. They need the money to pay $319,624 he still owes for conspiring with his son to defraud the government. Bill Walker misspent more than $600,000 while he served as director of the Mississippi Department of Resources.
“The people of Mississippi are entitled to get their money back,” Harris said.
Figuring out Walkers’ finances difficult
Bill and Scott Walker were convicted in 2014 in the federal fraud case. Bill Walker had been paying down restitution under federal court order, but stopped making monthly payments by February.
At the end of a recent hearing, U.S. District Judge Keith Starrett ordered Bill Walker to pay $16,500 in back payments by Jan. 1 or spend 30 days in jail.
Starrett has already jailed Walker once, in 2018, for failing to make monthly restitution payments. Starrett also ordered the conservatorship set up in Chancery Court.
The conservator and judges agree the Walkers, both 75 years old, have enough income to make the payments. Their monthly retirement income is around $17,000. They also receive state retirement checks each December, which state retirees call “the 13th check,” that total about $45,000.
But the courts and conservator have had a hard time getting a handle on Bill and Sharon Walker’s finances because they have been co-mingled with their son’s. Scott Walker has his mother’s power of attorney because she suffers from dementia and said he also has been managing his father’s finances because he has memory problems as well.
Pavlov is in charge of the elder Walkers’ money now and the judge must approve any spending. Scott Walker can buy his parents’ groceries, but Harris warned him to keep receipts.
Once Bill Walker’s restitution is paid, he owes a $125,000 fine.
Scott Walker recently finished repaying his restitution, some of which was jointly owed with his father, by selling his family’s home in an exclusive Ocean Springs subdivision. His wife, Trinity Walker, rented three billboards along U.S. 90 to thank him.
Scott Walker losing his BMW
Harris ordered Pavlov to take action on several financial fronts, all aimed at getting the restitution repaid.
▪ Sell a strip shopping center Scott and Sharon Walker own on U.S. 90, which Scott Walker said he had hired a real estate agent to sell. Pavlov will now take charge.
▪ File a lawsuit against Walker and Walker Management Group LLC, which received $40,000 of Bill and Sharon Walker’s money. Harris also said that Pavlov should sue Walker and Walker, a real estate company owned by Scott and Trinity Walker, for taking advantage of vulnerable adults.
▪ Return Scott Walker’s BMW to the dealership Friday. His parents covered monthly payments and insurance on the car. The dealership sent someone to Sharon Walker’s house in 2019 to sign paperwork for the car — the year after she was diagnosed with dementia, Harris said.
“Based on the proof I’ve heard, what was done was not right,” Harris said. “Don’t make anymore payments on that car.”
▪ Find the Walkers a wheelchair-accessible van and sell Sharon Walker’s Mercedes Benz, which has payments of $1,100 a month.
▪ Harris also ordered Scott Walker to pay his parents $2,000 that Bill Walker spent on a golf cart in his son’s name. The elder Walkers can no longer drive because of their health, the judge said.
▪ Stop paying on numerous loans Bill and Sharon Walker have taken out, including one with an interest rate of 239%. Scott Walker had said in federal court that he or his parents had taken out 11 loans for restitution payments. But Pavlov said at Friday’s chancery hearing that Scott Walker’s parents had made payments on one of his loans.
“We can’t pay Scott Walkers bills,” said Harris, who previously ordered a dozen or so of the elder Walkers’ credit cards canceled.
On Friday, Harris also made Bill Walker turn over his debit card.
Scott Walker accompanied his parents to court.
Before the hearing adjourned, Harris told the elder Walkers: “Let me say this. It’s going to get better and I’m sorry y’all find yourselves in this difficulty.”
After they left the hearing, the elder Walkers waited in front of the courthouse for their son, who picked them up in his mother’s white Mercedes Benz.
This story was originally published November 6, 2020 at 3:38 PM.
