Officials Say Funeral Home Owners Tried To Access Frozen Funds

Sunday, January 21st 2007, 5:57 am

By: News On 6

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) -- Tennessee officials say the owners of a large cemetery company under investigation for mismanagement in cemetery trust funds tried to withdraw frozen assetts in Oklahoma.

On Wednesday, officials say Stephen -W- Smith asked Armstrong Bank in Muskogee to close several funds controlled by Forest Hill funeral home and give him a cashier's check for about $140,000.

Smith is the business partner of Clayton Smart, an Oklahoma businessman accused of plundering millions of dollars from Forest Hill cemetery trust funds and diverting them to businesses he controls.

The bank refused Smith's request, and on Thursday two businesses controlled by Smart filed a request asking for access to some of the Oklahoma bank's funds.

Memphis attorney Cannon Allen -- who represents Smart and Smith -- says Smith's request stems from a misunderstanding of how best to transfer funeral home funds.