Plaintiff wants Barry Stokes jailed

Latest motion from one company suing the 1Point Solutions seeks to have founder put in jail because he ignored a temporary restraining order

Email | Print By Richard Lawson

One of the companies suing Barry Stokes wants him jailed for violating the temporary restraining order that shut down his employee benefits company, 1Point Solutions.

Beck/Arnley Worldparts filed a motion yesterday seeking a contempt of court order, claiming Stokes wrote several checks to himself and cashed them in the days after the U.S. District Court here issued the restraining order. “Because of the nature of the violation and the protection sought in the TRO, Beck/Arnley submits that incarceration is the only meaningful sanction for his contempt,” the motion stated. The motion, filed by Stites & Harbison attorneys Dianna Shew and Elizabeth Ferguson, said fining Stokes would be irrelevant.

“The underlying allegations at issue already demonstrate that Mr. Stokes has no true regard for money; especially, the money of others,” the support memorandum said. “Any money he might offer to satisfy the fine would only serve itself to deplete the cash of an account that might contain funds beloning to one of his many victims or might be used as restitution in this case.”

Stokes said his attorneys will file a response to the motion today that "shows how sloppy Dianna Shew is."

Beck/Arnley was the first of four recent lawsuits. The Smyrna company claims Stokes and his company misappropriated about $7 million in 401(k) dollars entrusted to the advisor. The court issued a restraining order on Sept. 13 that froze the company’s assets and accounts. Stokes was served notice that day.

According to the motion, Stokes wrote three checks to himself for amounts just under $10,000 each on Sept. 15 and cashed them that day. The motion stated that Stokes cashed a check the day before he had written to himself before the lawsuits came and the business began to unravel.

Beck/ Arnley learned about the checks after 1Point filed for bankruptcy and a trustee was appointed last Thursday to begin figuring out the company’s finances. Meanwhile, the 80 1Point employees who were laid off in the wake of the lawsuits have yet to receive their final paychecks. Stokes said the trustee had held up the paychecks.