Jones Civil Case

In November 2010, Jones was sued over his handling of a trust account. Blake Ogden of Texas said in a lawsuit that in 2000 Jones created a trust account for Ogden’s father, Gregg Ogden, then-owner of Athletic World Advertising of Fayetteville.

After Gregg Ogden died in 2007, Jones served as the trustee of the account. Blake Ogden said Jones was supposed to divide the trust equally among the beneficiaries. At the time Jones took control of the trust, it had $4 million in assets.

And while the trust was under Jones’ control, it generated another $4 million in income. But Jones didn’t divide the trust properly and breached his fiduciary duty in managing it, the lawsuit said.

One of several examples of Jones’ self-dealing concerned season tickets to Razorbacks football games that were owned by the trust.

Jones “used those tickets for himself, his family and his friends without reimbursing the trust for the value of the tickets,” the lawsuit said.

By the end of 2010, according to Blake Ogden’s complaint, “all, or substantially all, of the assets and income of the trust has now been depleted.”

Jones denied the allegations through his attorneys, R. Kenny McCulloch and S. Brent Wakefield of Little Rock.  

But as the case moved toward trial, Jones’ attorneys left him. They said Jones failed to return their calls and stiffed them on a bill for $4,800.  

“At this time, counsel is unsure of Jones’ whereabouts, despite our diligent efforts to locate him and communicate with him,” McCulloch said in a Nov. 11 motion.

When it was time for Jones’ trial on Dec. 13, he was a no-show. But the case continued without him. The six-person jury in U.S. District Court in Fayetteville returned its verdict in favor of Ogden in less than two hours.

Ogden’s attorney, Tim Dudley of Little Rock, declined to comment.