Lawsuit Accuses Council Chairman’s Former Employee of Stealing $1.2 Million from Man’s Estate

A lawsuit filed in Horry County accuses a former employee of county council Chairman Johnny Gardner and others of depriving a man’s heirs of more than $1.2 million in assets.

The lawsuit, filed on Jan. 27, names Gardner, his law firm, Anderson Brothers Bank and Luke Barefoot as defendants. Barefoot is accused of diverting “funds from the Estate of Benjamin Creel to various entities to benefit Defendants Barefoot, Gardner and Defendant Gardner Law Firm, in which [they] had financial interest in.”

Creel died in a car crash in November 2016. Barefoot “assumed control of the Estate…as personal representative and left a valid will naming Plaintiffs as his heirs at law” in November 1997, according to the lawsuit.

Read the source article at wbtw.com