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" If you don't want it printed, chances are it'll show up in Street
Talk." -- anonymous
2003: Most recent news at the top
March 5: Nigel Russell was a very bad boy long before he arrived in the USA.
In fact, it appears that the reason he came to the USA in the first place was to avoid incarceration in the United
Kingdom. In American English: he skipped bail and fled to Florida when he was due to appear at Liverpool Crown
Court in July, 1990, charged with grievous bodily harm after a bailiff was injured while trying to repossess Nigel's
Jaguar. The Court issued a warrant for his arrest to go along with the one already issued for non-payment of fines
and child support (he owed thousands in unpaid child support for his 9-year-old " love child" ). He also
left behind county court actions for unpaid bills from suppliers of his building firms and back rent on two fashion
stores.
Feb. 28: Nigel was charged in a 2-count Federal indictment on Tuesday, Feb.
25, with possession of firearms and ammunition while an alien in the United States under a nonimmigrant visa and
making a false statement in a passport application. If convicted, he could face up to 10 years in prison and a
$250,000 fine for each count. He is being held without bail. Read the article in the Myrtle Beach Sun News
here: Russell
facing federal charges
Feb. 19: Last October, as some of you may remember, it was rumored that Nigel
was putting together a deal with his old  pals to open a new timeshare resort in Deerfield Plantation. In case we didn't
believe it, someone sent in a photo of the group allegedly working on the deal, taken Oct. 16 outside of Nigel's
Surfside office. It was the fourth meeting that week. The deal apparently never happened. Pictured right to left:
Michael Biancone Archie Howell (Developer) an unknown Investor and Mike Couture (Property Manager - Deerfield
Realty --there have been raised eyebrows about some of Mike's dealings in " The Lakes" subdivision in
Surfside Beach, according to our sources).
 Breaking News Feb.
18: According to the local Myrtle Beach news station, WPDE- Channel 5, allegations have been
made that Nigel offered to pay a man $10,000 to kill two people. One of those is a young woman connected to
one of Russell's business associates, the other is his former partner at Plantation Resort, Jeff Motter.
During Russell's court appearance last Friday, the agent investigating the case told the court he believed Russell
was planning to leave the country because of the murder for hire. The agent said the information was given to the
feds by a criminal informant. Despite those allegations, authorities have so far only charged Russell with passport
fraud. The Feds say they are still investigating the murder-for-hire allegations.
In the meantime, a judge has determined that Russell is a flight risk and he needs to remain in jail until trial.
Also noted: when the Feds searched Nigel's home they seized more than $350,000 in cash and credit cards, several
forged immigration documents, a 9-millimeter handgun and a loaded 40-caliber pistol.
On Saturday, Feb. 8, 2003 agents from the U.S. State Department arrested Nigel Russell at his home in
the  affluent Prestwick Community of Surfside Beach on charges of identity
theft. (Top photo taken at 10:30AM EST on Feb. 14 at the Florence, SC Federal Courthouse. Click
Here to see it bigger Next photo taken at the same time and place. Click here
to see it bigger. Nigel was denied bail at this hearing and remains in custody at this time.)
The Feds say he was able to obtain a South Carolina drivers license, birth certificate and a U.S. passport under
another man's name. He apparently caught the attention of the Feds when he filled out an application for a passport
using the name, birthdate and social security number of a Philip Eric Jones. How he got that personal information
is a mystery at this point, though we have our suspicions. State Department agents seized Russell's computer, files
and a large sum of money, and agents told the local TV station that he was awaiting deportation to the United Kingdom.
(He is a UK citizen)
Wonder where he was planning to go, masquerading as a US citizen...?
Nigel is also being sued by several people who say he owes them thousands of dollars (are you surprised? Neither
are  we). Former employees Tom Lorenz and Brenda Keegan told local TV station
WPDE-Channel 5 that he stole money from their sales and pocketed their bonuses. (Well, y'all have been telling
us that for the last 3 or 4 years, but no one except us seemed to care.) Russell is also being sued by Plantation
Resorts (and he has sued them back). In that lawsuit, Plantation claims he stole money from some accounts and
withheld deposits, so Plantation " terminated" his contract. Nigel will appear in federal court in Florence,
SC today (Valentine's Day, how funny) and we are told that we can expect some photos from that hearing. Meanwhile,
people are whooping it up in Myrtle Beach on the strength of all these happenings, and jokes at his expense are
already legion. --" Who says timeshare doesn't work? Nigel has made his exchange into Club
Fed (too bad it's not a Gold Crown Resort). The dress code is casual orange."
UPDATE Feb. 15: Nigel's attorney apparently is Morgan Martin. Mr. Martin is a partner in HEARN
BRITTAIN & MARTIN with offices in Conway and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. He served as a state prosecutor
for eight years and six years in the S.C. Legislature where he was Chairman of the Criminal Law Committee and Chairman
of the Commission on Sentencing Guidelines. He has participated in numerous significant civil and criminal trials
with an emphasis on criminal law. He has successfully prosecuted and defended over thirty murder cases. In other
words: He doesn't come cheap.
- COMMENTS:
- Someone has started a message board on Yahoo! called Nigel's
Last Stand, and you are invited to join. Go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Nigelslaststand/
- Feb. 14:
--" This has been one of the best
weeks of my life!!! What goes around, comes around!! He deserves all the bad that comes his way! Thanks for keeping
us updated!!!"
- AND: --" Concerning
Nigel, most of us were screwed by him
one way or another. Several of us have actually screwed him. I know I have said awful things about him but I want
him to know there are those of us who still love him and are praying for him. Regardless of his wrong doings, he
still has a wife and children who are without a husband and a father now."
- Feb. 15: --" I,
too, feel sorry for Nigel's wife and children.
Probably sorrier than Nigel does, because if he had cared about them at all he would not have put them in this
position. Nigel only cares about Nigel everyone else is just there to be used. Not only does he lack the most
basic understanding of the words `faithful' and `integrity', he laughs at those who think those words are important.
I sincerely hope the laugh is on him this time, permanently, but he has shown an uncanny ability to worm his way
out of trouble and I'm afraid he'll do it this time too. If he gets deported he'll probably end up in the Canary
Islands or Spain scamming people. But wait. He's too much of a coward to hang with that crowd..."
- AND: --" I
too feel sorry for Nigel's Family. How
must they feel knowing that their husband and Father had not only been unfaithful to his marriage but was going
to abandon them. Remember there was only one fraudulent passport found from the reports I heard. I do know that
he had tried to obtain access to other fraudulent documents in the past, so we will see if that is going to be
investigated at all now."
- AND: --" Who's
to say they couldn't travel freely on
their own documents and Nigel was the only one who needed false ones? There were rumors when Nigel was with Plantation
that his daughter was working there on phonied up papers she was underaged at the time, not a US Citizen and would
have needed working papers. But who knows, it was only rumors after all, but it makes me wonder if his family is
really so innocent, that they didn't know anything was going on. A case of Nigel dragging his family into his life
of slime?"
- AND: --" Thanks
for the picture, it made my whole year
to see that! Maybe I'll never see a cent of what he owes me, but at least I got to see him in handcuffs!!!! I wonder
if there are TS people out there, former `friends' and colleagues, who need to be worried by what the Feds might
find in his computer and other records...?"
- AND: --" When
is someone going to address the issue
that he stole owner files and records from Plantation Resort? We have no idea how many of our owners he has ripped
off. He's telling them he can sell their week for $499 up front- well, we all know he not going to do anything
of the kind. ...Worse, he was posing as Plantation Resort when calls were made to trusting owners."
- AND: --" Nigel's
empire continues to crumble: On February
14, the SC Real Estate Commission's Ken Kitts shut down Mulder Real Estate Company (also doing business as Sunshine
Vacations.) The word on the street is also that Nigel is being held without bond."
- AND: --" Let
this be a warning to all the " HEAT MERCHANTS"
and " CRIMINALS" out there in the timeshare world Do the crime, get the time (share?). I think we all
are missing a vital part of the ingredient to the disappearing of monies & and continued criminal activities.
However bad Nigel is, HE HAD PARTNERS AND EMPLOYERS THAT ALLOWED HIM TO CONTINUE HIS DECEPTIVE WAYS!!!!!!!!!!!
Even after agents complained to the owners of the company, Nigel somehow kept his job. How is this possible when
so much has been spoken of in public AND private? None of his partners can say they knew nothing about his `deceptive
ways'."
- AND: --" This
is NICE! I hope he gets f***ed in jail
as many times as he hit my sister."
- AND: --" I
always find it sad that people with natural
talents find unnatural ways to use them. Having worked with Nigel for over two years, I couldn't help but recognize
his ability to create tours and sales to the extent that Plantation Resort produced. But with all the success generated
by his efforts, he continually strayed from the course of " good" business and entered the world of the
corrupt, deceitful, cheating and coniving ways as your columns have demonstrated. Unfortunately, no one wants to
give him any credit for his levels of success, only criticize him for his faults.
Why can everybody who worked with him and those like him everywhere see the problem caused by high results with
low standards while management responsible for putting these people in their positions cannot see the problem?
Does management go blind from the success produced regardless of the means with which these despots work? Perhaps
everybody should stop slinging stones at Nigel and start picking up the obvious signs of " bad business practices"
and use them to correct situations at resorts around the world. Nigel is not the only corrupt head of a project,
he's just the most recent one to get caught!!!!!"
- Feb. 19: --" I
appreciate the BEAT for covering this scumbag's story,
and rightfully so, but this type of person should be out of vacation ownership/timeshare and those that are like
him. Our industry has brought this type into it all over the nation. When some states passed laws where you had
to get real estate license to sell timeshare those that were felons had to move out of state so they went to states
where you had lots of timeshare but no license requirements... mainly Branson, Missouri... e.g. lots of scumbags
just like this one. We need to clean up our industry."
- AND:
--" Every one knows Nigel had an obsession
with the tv charctor FBI agent Mulder on The X-Files. He even kept a photo of him on his desk. I wonder how he
feels about federal agents now."
We are told that reporter Keri Schwartz is investigating the Nigel Russell case.
If you have any issues with Nigel Russell regarding him owing you money or any other legal issues with him and
would like to inform the media, please contact: Feedback@wpde.com Attn.
Keri Schwartz.
Stay tuned.
E-mail street@streettalkblog.com
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