Howell?s Hideaway

Just weeks before he died, Little Rock investor M. David Howell Jr. bought a $425,000 condominium in Destin, Fla. The warranty deed filed in Okaloosa County indicates that the former Springdale and Fayetteville banker bought it from a Georgia couple on Sept. 12. The condo, No. 1206 in the oceanfront Breakers East complex, was deeded to the Howell Family Irrevocable Trust.

No mortgage was filed, indicating that Howell paid cash for the 1,450-SF condo. According to the Breakers East Web site, all of the building’s condos have two bedrooms and two bathrooms.

Howell was found dead in his room at a luxury hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif., on Oct. 23, less than a week after the Arkansas Securities Department issued a cease-and-desist order alleging that he sold more than $15 million worth of unregistered securities in the form of promissory notes carrying annual interest rates of 10-50 percent.