AIKEN, S.C. - A trustee accused of misappropriating US$350,000 of James Brown's money resigned and handed over a check for that amount during a court hearing, a newspaper reported.
David Cannon also resigned Friday as co-executor of the late soul singer's will during a four-hour hearing before Circuit Judge Jack Early, The Augusta (Ga.) Chronicle reported Saturday.
Cannon has an unlisted telephone number and another trustee, Buddy Dallas, did not immediately return a message seeking comment.
A follow-up hearing has been scheduled for Sept. 24 as various people wrangle over the late soul singer's estate.
It's not clear how much money is left in the estate, said Louis Levenson, an Atlanta attorney representing several of the singer's children. Before he died Christmas Day at age 73, Brown had been on an allowance of $100,000 a month.
Levenson said his firm is trying to find out where the singer's money went.
Brown's former pastor has filed a motion to intervene on behalf of needy children who are supposed to benefit from the James Brown "I Feel Good" Trust. That is one of two trusts Brown had set up: One to pay for poor children in South Carolina and Georgia to attend school; the other would pay for Brown's grandchildren to go to school.
The Rev. Larry Fryer said he's worried the money meant for poor children is being squandered by the court battles. "If we're paying all of the money to all of the legal sources," Fryer said, "what's left for the children?"
One of Brown's grandchildren, Forlando Brown, accused his aunts and uncles of trying to break the trusts to get their father's money.
"People are greedy," the West Georgia University student told The Augusta Chronicle.
Forlando Brown said he, his brother and his father, Terry Brown, have been ostracized by the rest of the family for siding with the trustees.
