Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Clayton Smart's $70 Million Cemetery Embezzlement Case Wraps Up

Clayton Smart, 71, who is from Okmulgee, Oklahoma, plead guilty to charges he embezzled some $70 million from 13,000 trust accounts at numerous cemeteries in Michigan and Tennessee which he owned.  Yesterday he was ordered to repay $30 million to his former Michigan clients and $10 million to his former Tennessee clients.  In September, Smart was sentenced to up to 20 years in prison, plus pay restitution, after pleading guilty to 39 felony fraud counts filed in Michigan.  Smart is currently in federal prison for tax evasion charges filed in a related case following the 4 year term he already spent in prison in Shelby County, Tennessee.  Smart allegedly conspired with several others, including business partner Stephen Smith, 64, of Muskogee County, Oklahoma, Carter Conrad Green, 71, of Henderson, Nevada and Smart's financial advisor, Mark Singer, 45, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  Smart's house of cards crumbled in July 2006, leading to fraud charges in late April 2007.  The fleecing of customer trust accounts for pre-paid funerals and cemetery maintenance spanned a period of about 2 1/2 years, from June 1, 2004 through December 31, 2006. 

Read the story here, here, here and here.
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1 comment:

  1. AnonymousSeptember 29, 2026 at 2:06 PM

    I was one of his victims. At 82 I was checking into the cost of returning my body to Tennessee for burial. I thought the fraud problem was resolved years ago. I found out that my policy was still void, even though I still have all the legal papers. Also, I have not received notification, nor any restitution from the $10 million that I just found on the internet was set up for such a purpose. I have learned from this experience not to buy a burial contract nor expect the legal system to protect an individual in a fraud case. I'm sure the money disappeared down a rabbit hole, never be seen again by the victims who lost money and now interest. It is a good thing that I still have a healthy heart.

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