80+ people claim Lexington lawyer worth $25M defrauded them before his death
More than 80 people now say they were defrauded by a Lexington lawyer who was worth $25 million when he died by suicide last spring, according to new court documents.
Delmon Lyle McQuinn, 48, had assets totalling $25.3 million dollars, including homes across at least 10 counties, 13 plots of land and two states.
Inside one of his four Fayette County homes — this one off Old Richmond Road and worth about $2.5 million — was a “gun safe stacked floor to ceiling with $100 bills,” according to an email filed in court documents by John Norman, the public administrator tasked with sifting through McQuinn’s vast estate.
But some former clients say much of McQuinn’s fortune was obtained fraudulently after he was hired to execute their wills.
McQuinn’s alleged scheme began to unravel when attorneys for Linda Helton, 80, filed a lawsuit March 5 claiming he stole as much as $5 million from her late husband’s estate.
Eight days later, McQuinn abruptly married his longtime girlfriend, Kelly Leigh Jordan. Five days after that, on March 18, he died by self-inflicted carbon monoxide poisoning, according to a coroner’s report.
A July 30 story from the Herald-Leader revealed that Norman thought the probate attorney may have perpetrated widespread fraud against his clients. He wrote in court documents that there could be as many 3,800 victims.
In nearly four months since then, dozens of additional alleged victims have come forward, according to a pair of recent court filings.
“The entire McQuinn ordeal — from his death to what followed — is a historic tragedy on many levels that has no blueprint or precedent to guide those such as the public administrator that now seek to minimize the fallout,” Whitney Wallingford, a lawyer for Norman, wrote in an Oct. 12 motion.
Norman and Wallingford declined to comment.
McQuinn was a lawyer with the Lexington firm Goeing, Goeing and McQuinn. The firm, as well as partners Dustin Beard, Stanley Goeing and Matthew Goeing, are named in Helton’s suit.
In October, the Goeing brothers and Beard denied the allegations in Helton’s suit. The Goeings’ lawyer, John Dwyer, declined to comment for this story.
The claims against McQuinn are myriad. Alleged victims say he stole from loved ones’ estates through phantom trusts, excessive attorney fees, voidable wills and self-dealings. Their claims range from a few hundred dollars to millions.
Most say their wills were signed fraudulently by people who were not present at the time of the signing, contrary to Kentucky law, which requires that two witnesses be present to execute a will.
Several of the wills showed signatures from Beard and McQuinn’s wife. It is unclear if she was an employee at the firm, or why her signatures were on the wills.
The claims against Lyle McQuinn
Though specific allegations against McQuinn vary, several families told similar stories of potentially invalid wills, according to court documents filed this fall.
The recent claims don’t allege outright theft, but, rather, that the services people paid for weren’t completed, since the wills could be legally invalid. Many former clients are working to determine if their documents are legitimate.
William and Tana Wells filed a claim in October to request reimbursement for $1,897 they paid McQuinn to draft their wills, power of attorney and living wills.
“At the time of signing, the witnesses and notary were not present with Mrs. Wells, and only (McQuinn) was present to act as notary for Mr. Wells, rendering all of our documents invalid under Kentucky law,” the Wells’ claim reads.
The witness signatures that appear on the documents appear to be Beard and Jordan’s, court documents show.
Another couple, James and Barbara Sherrod, filed a claim against the estate for $3,200, which they paid to Beard to act as notary. He was the only person at their home the day they signed their own estate documents.
However, McQuinn and Jordan’s signatures were signed as witnesses, according to court documents.
Beard’s attorney, Joyce Merritt, did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
“As a result of the actions of (McQuinn) and Mr. Beard, and the unreliability of the estate planning documents prepared by Goeing, Goeing and McQuinn, PLLC, the (Sherrods) have sought the advice of and retained counsel to prepare new estate planning documents,” their claim reads.
Karen and Larry Springate learned about McQuinn’s death from previous reporting by the Herald-Leader, according to their claim letter.
They said they feel cheated and deceived, as no one from McQuinn’s office contacted the couple who paid nearly $4,000 for their estate planning.
“We are left to pick up the pieces of a document that has little to no validity,” their letter reads. “This has been distressing — and expensive.”
The total claims against McQuinn’s estate since this past spring total $6.51 million, according to an inventory filed in court documents.
McQuinn’s former clients have created a public Facebook community page called Lyle McQuinn Community and Information. According to the group’s biography, intends to be a safe place for people to share updates about their claims.
McQuinn’s estate also under scrutiny
In previous court filings, Norman wrote that he’d discovered that Jordan, her sister and Beard allegedly forged notary or witness signatures on deeds and documentation related to McQuinn’s estate, too.
Jordan tried to transfer to herself the deed for the couple’s Old Richmond Road residence. She submitted the deed transfer to the Fayette Clerk’s office April 23 — weeks after McQuinn died, and the same day Norman was appointed to oversee McQuinn’s estate — but signed it with the date March 14, one day after the couple got married.
Jordan continues to ask court officials to appoint her as the administrator of McQuinn’s estate, rather than Norman. Bryan Sergent, an attorney for Jordan, filed a motion to remove Norman as the administrator that was later denied. Sergent indicated at a former court hearing his plans to appeal that decision.
Sergent did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
In September, attorneys for Helton amended her complaint to include McQuinn’s estate, law partners, Jordan and her sister.
Helton’s attorneys now argue the group was coordinating a civil conspiracy, according to the new complaint.
Teddy Mims, an attorney for Helton, said the process moving slowly. Glenn Cohen and Christopher Bates, attorneys with Louisville firm Seiller Waterman, joined Helton’s team.
Mims said the team is in the process of written discovery, with hopes to progress to depositions.
The next hearing for McQuinn’s estate is scheduled for Dec. 3.
