Ferrum Capital victims may want to know about companies Joshua Allen is connected to, said the court-appointed receiver who took control of Allen’s assets in the Amarillo Walk-On’s case.
Once the money is collected in the Walk-On’s case, Lubbock attorney Max Tarbox will step down from his receivership role.
“But there’s a much bigger case in San Antonio … involving millions of dollars,” Tarbox said.
LubbockLights.com asked if Tarbox would be willing to talk to John Patrick Lowe, the court-appointed receiver in charge of Ferrum Capital as the result of a lawsuit in San Antonio.
“I believe the attorneys in San Antonio would probably want to have some kind of arrangement with me to turn over any information and notes that I have to them so they can pursue those assets as well for that particular lawsuit,” Tarbox said.
“I would give that information to the receivers in San Antonio,” Tarbox added.
Allen and Ferrum
One of Allen’s companies until early 2024 had been Ferrum Capital. Ferrum became the focal point for federal criminal charges against Allen and Michael Cox, who started Ferrum in 2017. A federal indictment accused the two of using Ferrum to steal millions of dollars from hundreds of investors – many of them from Lubbock and the surrounding area. Others were from the San Antionio area.
Their former business affiliate Brooklynn Chander Willy pleaded guilty in March to securities fraud and other charges.
Investors began filing lawsuits against Allen, Cox, Willy and Ferrum in late 2023. A San Antonio judge took Ferrum out of Allen and Cox’s control in 2024 – placing it into the hands of a John Patrick Lowe as a court-appointed receiver. Lowe and Tarbox had the same job title and more-or-less the same job. The receivership in both cases was intended to find and recover assets.
In addition to Lowe, there are bankruptcy trustees – in both the Michael Cox case and the Collins Asset Group case. The Cox trustee said he was not familiar enough with Allen to comment. Many of the people to whom Cox owed money were Ferrum investors, according to court records. LubbockLights.com reached out to one of the trustees in the Collins case, but so far he has not responded.
“We had, I’m going to say, over 20 limited liability companies that he [Allen] had formed and I really haven’t gotten into the inner workings of those LLCs,” Tarbox said, adding he didn’t need to because of the power he was given.
Tarbox was appointed as receiver by State District Judge John Grace in August. Allen had been successfully sued by Raiderland Holdings (owned by Chance Britt) and Jeffrey Tait Crow over the failure of the Amarillo location of Walk-On’s.
Grace ruled Allen had breached his duty to other investors. The location remained open but was taken over by the Walk-On’s corporate office.
Allen was ordered to pay $575,000 plus attorney fees. He didn’t, so Grace appointed Tarbox.
Tarbox convinced Grace to approve an $835,000 confidential settlement this month to sell Allen’s interest in a series of companies. The dollar figure covers the judgment, attorney fees and the receiver’s commission.
“The court entered an order that approved a settlement agreement where we would sell certain interests that Josh Allen had in certain LLCs [limited liability companies] to a group of people, which I would call the Neufeld family,” Tarbox said.
Basically, when we had a board meeting – or membership meeting, I guess is the right word – I asserted my rights to Josh Allen’s interest.
max tarbox
Tarbox was able to settle with the other people involved with some of Allen’s companies because once Grace authorized Tarbox to take possession of Allen’s assets, it included Allen’s ownership and voting rights in various companies.
“Basically, when we had a board meeting – or membership meeting, I guess is the right word – I asserted my rights to Josh Allen’s interest. So, I was a part of the group that voted on this settlement along with the other members of the LLCs. I’m basically stepping into his shoes as owner of his particular interest,” Tarbox said.
Tarbox voted in favor of his own settlement proposal during board meetings of these companies.
Tarbox also said there could be an appeal for 30 days after the judge signed the order on April 6.
“Hopefully they will not appeal,” Tarbox said.
Allen’s wife given notice
In our previous coverage, we noticed Allen’s wife, Chanda, was served with notice in the Walk-On’s case just days before the settlement.
Tarbox explained why that happened.
“That was more of a cautionary act on our part – just to make sure that she couldn’t argue later that she didn’t have an opportunity to show up. Her lawyer represents both Josh [Allen] and her,” Tarbox said.
In some cases, there are marital property rights. But if the companies were under the “sole management control” of Allen, then his wife would not have the same legal claims, according to Tarbox.
“We did not want her to have the opportunity to come back and say, ‘I didn’t have notice.’ So, we gave her notice,” Tarbox said.
