ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, July 15, 1996 TAG: 9607150114
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SERIES: second of two parts
SOURCE: TODD JACKSON STAFF WRITER
NOTE: Strip
AS THE LAWSUITS PILE UP, people who now believe they were taken in by Clyde Bryant's propositions simultaneously express anger and wonderment over how he persuaded them to lend him so much money.
Where is Clyde Bryant?
Some think the former Franklin County antique dealer is in Mississippi. Others believe he could be in Manteo, off the North Carolina coast, a place he liked to talk about when he was in the Franklin County Jail.
Still others think Bryant hopped a plane with a suitcase full of money, and is sipping a pina colada on a remote Pacific island.
Bryant is accused of talking big bucks out of a lot of people who should have known better - doctors, lawyers, entrepreneur, stockbrokers.
"I had no earthly idea that he was anything other than an articulate and intelligent, sometimes quirky, high-dollar antique dealer," said Pete McGlaughlin, a financial adviser in Montgomery County, Md. "He's one in a hundred million. There should be a special place for people like him."
McGlaughlin represents Noramac Properties, a company that he said is trying to collect more than $300,000 from Bryant.
A lot of creditors who have filed claims against Bryant and his wife, Wanda - claims that total more than $6 million - don't want to talk about how Bryant was able to get loans from them.
"We all look like fools," McGlaughlin said. "But we're talking about the world's best here."
Bryant ran Franklin Antiques, in a former service station across from Franklin Memorial Park on U.S. 220 near Rocky Mount.
Those in Franklin County who know Bryant would drive by his antique shop and see him in his office, always with the phone to his ear. Few knew that he was negotiating deals with people all along the East Coast.
Bryant even had ties with an eastern European banker, McGlaughlin said.
Bryant would borrow money, sometimes paying as much as 20 percent interest up front, and, on many occasions, pay the loan back in as few as 30 days, creditors and friends of Bryant say.
A lot of people were making fast money. Many believed Bryant was buying and selling antiques at a profit to turn over cash, but some now wonder if Bryant was paying them with loans from others.
Bryant would use his clients - whose trust he had earned - to make more contacts with influential people.
A creditor who has sued Bryant for a six-figure sum stated the obvious:
"I'd be the first to admit that I was greedy. But we made some good money."
Few knew that Bryant had been convicted of bilking a Roanoke bank out of $75,000 in 1979 and selling cocaine to an undercover agent in 1980.
People continued to lend money to Bryant; in several instances, they raised the dollar amount each time he came calling. Some say they lent him money before he paid off previous debts.
Earlier this year, Bryant's operation came to an end.
Some say he gambled himself into trouble in Atlantic City. Others say Bryant got in too deep, taking too many loans from too many people. Some say it was a combination of both.
In May, Bryant left Franklin County, his wife and his adopted son.
The FBI is looking for him.
Federal agents, on a request from the Franklin County Sheriff's Office, are investigating Bryant's activities. Other than a fugitive warrant, though, no federal charges have been filed.
Grand larceny charges have been filed against him in Franklin County, and several lawsuits are pending against Bryant in Henry County and Martinsville.
His wife has filed for bankruptcy, and four creditors have filed a Chapter 7 involuntary bankruptcy petition against Clyde Bryant.
The list of people who say they've had bad business deals with Bryant includes some well-known names in Southwest Virginia: William Pannill of the Pannill Knitting Co. family of Martinsville, and Warner Dalhouse, retired chairman of First Union Bank of Virginia to name two.
Pannill, who could not be reached for comment, and an assistant have filed claims for more than $800,000.
Dalhouse, who has filed a criminal complaint against Bryant charging him with grand larceny, says he lost $15,000 in antique furniture.
Dalhouse said he met Bryant about two years ago through another top executive at First Union.
After a phone conversation, Bryant showed up at Dalhouse's home the next day to look at some antiques. Dalhouse said Bryant looked at the pieces and appraised them; his comments led Dalhouse to believe that Bryant knew what he was talking about.
Bryant said he had ties to furniture markets in Washington, D.C., and Atlanta, Dalhouse said. Dalhouse decided to let Bryant have the antiques to sell on consignment.
For two years, Dalhouse would check in periodically with Bryant. He never received payment for his antiques, and had no idea where they were.
He went to see Bryant at his shop on 220 recently, but Bryant had already disappeared.
Dalhouse doesn't expect to recoup his loss, but he said he filed the criminal charge against Bryant "for the satisfaction of seeing him get caught."
McGlaughlin, the financial adviser in Maryland, said he and a group of investors he represents lent Bryant money six times.
Bryant paid the first four loans back, but not the last two, which amount to more than $300,000, McGlaughlin said.
McGlaughlin began to get suspicious when Bryant was late with his payments. After a few phone calls, reality set in.
Bryant had listed the estate of a Charlotte man as collateral for a loan.
McGlaughlin said he learned that the man's son, not Bryant, owned items listed as part of the estate.
The asset list had seemed legitimate, McGlaughlin said, because Bryant had been so detail-specific that he sent pictures of the estate items to McGlaughlin.
"I mean, I checked references he gave me and everything," McGlaughlin said. "It looked good."
About the time her husband left, Wanda Bryant filed for bankruptcy, listing assets of $2.5 million and liabilities of $6.2 million.
In court documents, Wanda Bryant says she signed her power of attorney over to her husband, and that most of the debts can be linked to him.
Attached to Wanda Bryant's filing is a list of 50 creditors, ranging from Pannill to Mr. and Ms. George Pavia of Madison Avenue in New York City.
The largest claim of the 50: Dr. Mervyn King and his wife, Virginia, of Henry County, who say they are owed $1.7 million.
Four creditors - Pannill and his assistant, Myrtle Robertson, and Bill and Jeanie Curlee of Martinsville - have filed an involuntary bankruptcy claim against Clyde Bryant in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Roanoke.
The four have also sued Bryant in the city of Martinsville.
The Curlees say they lost $42,000 to Bryant.
In addition to the Martinsville cases, William Nease, a Henry County stockbroker, has filed a civil suit against Bryant in Henry County Circuit Court. He says he's owed $82,812.
Brian Boodro, a realty agent in Myrtle Beach, S.C., says Bryant owes him $80,000.
Boodro believes that wherever Bryant is, he's not broke.
"There's got to be some money somewhere," he said. "I just don't think he blew it all in a casino."
In Franklin County, several people, including Dalhouse, have filed grand larceny charges against Bryant. The charges involve antiques that were given to Bryant to sell on consignment.
The Bryants' assets have been placed in the hands of creditors.
Gone is Mallard Cove Stables, the 83-acre horse farm at Smith Mountain Lake where Wanda Bryant spent many hours.
Gone is the antique shop.
Gone are the two condominiums at Smith Mountain Lake.
Wanda Bryant is now living with her parents in Franklin County. She did not return phone calls to be interviewed for this story.
Noramac Properties, the company McGlaughlin represents, now holds one of several liens on the horse farm, which has an estimated market value of $800,000, according to court documents.
Because the company will probably be able to recoup some or all of its losses, McGlaughlin doesn't feel sorry for himself.
He does feel for other creditors - some whom lost their life savings - and he feels for Wanda Bryant.
He saw her not too long ago in Roanoke when he came to town to check on the Bryants' situation.
"Wanda was laughing and crying at the same time," he said.
Then, McGlaughlin said, Wanda Bryant told him: "When Caesar's Palace sent a limousine for me and Clyde to go to the Super Bowl, I should have known something bad was going on."
"This guy is a black-hearted son of a bMcGlaughlin said. "There's no two ways about it."
LENGTH: Long : 158 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshot) Bryantby CNB