Bart Reagor fights back against Ford Credit
Bart Reagor, former co-owner of Reagor-Dykes Auto Group, is fighting back against Ford Credit Co. in the court of public opinion, which has resulted in a delay of a final judgment, Wayne Dolcefino, founder of Dolcefino Consulting, told Auto Finance News. The case — which has been postponed until Oct. 7 — will move to a jury trial, he said.
Read more: Ford Motor Credit Files Suit Claiming Texas Dealership Group Owes $41M
“There’s just so many questions [regarding the details],” Dolcefino said. In a video interview released on Houston-based Dolcefino Consulting’s Facebook page, Reagor floats those questions.
Among them, Reagor maintains that representatives from Ford Credit were culpable in the fraud, pointing to a June 2018 audit summary letter he received from Ford Credit stating the results were “fantastic and your entire organization should be commended for their hard work and efforts.” Ford Credit filed its initial complaint with the U.S. District Court Northern District of Texas a month later.
Further, the video points to court filings citing that, “over the past 11 years, [Former Reagor-Dykes CFO Shane Smith] maintained a close professional and personal relationship with Gary Byrd Jr., the Dallas Regional Manager of Ford Credit and the person primarily responsible for overseeing Ford Credit’s financing of the Reagor-Dykes Auto Group.” Dolcefino told Auto Finance News that Byrd and Smith were roommates in college.
Prior to working at the dealer group, “[Smith] worked for Ford Credit for 12 years [prior],” Reagor said. “All those people that were in charge of those audits were his friends,” he added. Smith admitted to defrauding Ford Credit $50 million last month in federal court.
The video also highlights a separate accusation made by the other former owner of Reagor-Dykes, Rick Dykes, stating that an employee in the auto group’s finance office received advance notice of forthcoming audits.
Even further, Reagor suggests that local unnamed banks profited from the check-kiting scheme Smith admitted to running. “It looks like there was some quid pro quo between [the banks] and my CFO,” noting that the banks turned a blind eye in exchange for “charging [Reagor-Dykes Auto Group] astronomical fees.” One bank, Dolcefino said, charged the dealer group $600,000 in fees. Two other local banks implicated by Reagor in the check-kiting fraud included First Capital — where Rick Dykes is a board member — and Vista Bank.
Bart Reagor is the last piece of the settlement puzzle between the Lubbock, Texas-based auto group and the captive. Ford Credit claimed in court documents filed in June that Reagor owes the captive $45.3 million, including interest and court fees. Rick Dykes settled with Ford Credit for $58 million in April.
Read more: Reagor-Dykes proposes $14M restructuring plan to Ford Credit, GM Financial
Dolcefino Consulting’s website describes the organization as, “a ‘wartime’ media consulting firm, hired by companies, law firms, and private citizens and taxpayers to expose injustice, fraud, and abuse of power.”
You can watch the full video here.
Ford Credit failed to respond to a request for comment by press time.
