Suicide attempt by bankrupt financial advisor suspected of fraud

Brentwood money manager suspected of squandering clients' millions attempts to take own life

Email | Print By Ken Whitehouse

Michael J. Park

Brentwood financial advisor Michael J. Park, who is suspected of swindling millions of dollars out of clients, was hospitalized late Monday night after a suicide attempt.

Last week, Park filed to liquidate his assets after signs of a massive fraud led his brokerage to pull his license and regulators to shut down his firm. Investors were notified that money they had entrusted him with at Park Capital Management Group was now gone. Early estimates have the losses pegged at $20 million.

Monday night at 9:50 p.m., Metro Nashville and Brentwood police officers as well as medical crews were dispatched to Park's residence at 133 Woodward Hills Place. The address is located inside a gated community on Old Hickory Boulevard across from Maryland Farms right on the Davidson-Williamson county line.

A caller – not Park – informed Metro Dispatch that Park had slit his wrists, was going to slit his throat and had taken a lot of Xanax. Xanax is a prescription drug used to treat anxiety disorders and panic attacks as well as anxiety associated with clinical depression.

According to NashvillePost.com sources, Park is currently being treated and monitored at an area hospital.

All of this comes before an expected wave of lawsuits that could land Park and 1st Discount Brokerage, the Florida firm that until last week held his brokerage license, in the courtroom for years to come.

An aspect of Park's finance career that will be heavily scrutinized will be his past work at the brokerage firm Edward Jones. Spokeswoman Jackie Knolhoff verified that Park had left the St. Louis-based company in 1998. She told NashvillePost.com, "He was terminated on June 1, 1998 for compliance reasons. He did not leave the firm voluntarily."

One cause of the termination is a lawsuit that was first reported by NashvillePost.com and has since been picked up by area television stations. A Williamson County man sued Park for mismanagement and unauthorized transfers of $43,000.

According to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, the largest non-governmental regulator of all U.S. securities firms, Park then had an active license through Raymond James Financal Services from January 1999 until February 2000. He was then licensed as a broker through Acument Securities from March 2000 until August 2002. From then until last week, Park was licensed through 1st Discount Brokerage.

According to FINRA's disclosure of customer disputes, disciplinary and regulatory events, Park had reported disclosures of a regulatory event, criminal actions, a customer dispute and termination.

Park also has an open lawsuit due to a March 2005 downtown Nashville traffic incident that resulted in the hospitalization of two women. In addition, he has been the subject of two other lawsuits alleging mismanagement and unauthorized use of client funds.

The alleged actions of Park echo the tales of Rutherford County philanthropist Bob McLean and Barry Stokes of benefits firm 1Point Solutions before him. A year ago, McLean was accused of misappropriating various promissory notes. That case led to him committing suicide last September and the trustee overseeing his bankruptcy suing investors to recover what he says were improper interest payments.