Williams Not New to Scamming
James David Williams has become a Frank Report scam artist favorite, ever since he conned a group of NXIVM supporters out of $500,000 for a film he never made. Williams got handed an 18 month sentence for violating the terms of his probation earlier this month.
Dave Williams Fraud Story Is One for Grifters Everywhere – Even the Vanguard Could Learn From Him
One commenter wrote about him:
“J. David Williams ran his scams for over 20 years. A search of the court records goes back to the early `90’s. He does everything through third party entities that he creates to camouflage the money trail. He is a very smart psychopath, who, incredibly, can remember all his lies and recount them.
“One of his earlier victims even committed suicide after being left financially destitute. Williams’ response was to laugh and say he had probably done himself a favor because he was obviously emotionally unstable to begin with.”
According to the Miami Herald, one of Williams’ victims wrote a letter to Judge Kimba Wood, “imploring that she impose a strict sentence” on the scam artist.
“There is still not a day that goes by that I don’t think of him, and the pain he has caused my family that I don’t feel a profound sense of sadness,” the victim wrote. “By contrast, I imagine that there isn’t a day that goes by that [Williams] doesn’t reflect on things and laugh.”
Busbice Won Judgment Against Williams
One of Williams’ victims was Bill Busbice, Jr.
Busbice owned 55,000 acres of land in Olla, Louisiana, used for hunting and timber operations, a ranch in Wyoming, a hunting and fishing gear company with 12 brands and 2,400 products, called Wild Game Innovations, and was star of the Outdoor Channel show Wildgame Nation.
In 2013, Busbice sold his outdoor brands to Plano Synergy and signed a contract providing services to Plano Synergy as host of the Wildgame Nation TV program.
In that same year, Williams took Busbice for $10.9 million on four bogus film deals.
By February 2014, Busbice sued Williams and his associates, Steven Brown and Gerald Seppala in California.
In March 2016, he won judgment against Williams for $6.95 million, Brown for $3.45 million and Seppalla for $100,000 –three judgements worth almost nothing, for these men had long before spent or hid Busbice’s original $10.9 million investment.
In June 2016, the US Department of Justice announced an indictment against Williams and his partners. They were arrested and convicted of defrauding Busbice and others.
Though Busbice wouldn’t get much of his money back, at least these swindlers would go to prison for stealing from him.
While Williams was ordered to make restitution, to date he has paid back $10,900 of the $10,900,000 he swindled from Busbice.
Yet Busbice still had his hunting show, and his hunting properties. He was making money and gaining fame from doing what he loved best — hunting.
Busbice Makes Mistake
On October 15, 2016, Busbice was at his Spring Creek Ranch, on La Barge Creek in Wyoming, to film his hunting show. It so happened that a very large bull elk – the bull roughly scored over 350 inches – had been frequenting the ranch. This kind of hunt was exactly why people watched his show. Busbice had a license to harvest the bull.
Hunting on his own land, accompanied by a cameraman, Busbice came upon a herd of elk. The large bull was among them.
The unedited video shows Busbice shot at the bull two times and missed. Busbice shot again and hit a calf. On his fourth shot, Busbice hit the bull in the left shoulder. It fell to the ground about 60 yards from where the calf went down.
Busbice and the cameraman walked up to look at the bull and then left the area.
At the end of the video, Busbice is heard to say, “We have to eliminate that part when I shot a cow,” and “We got to get rid of that cow.”
Afterward, a man with a backhoe came, field dressed the bull and hauled it away. The cow remained in the meadow. Later Busbice’s ranch manager and the cameraman dragged the calf elk into an irrigation ditch to conceal it. No attempt was made to field dress or preserve the meat from the calf.
Unfortunately for Busbice, he was observed by a group of hunters and they reported the apparent wildlife violation to Kemmerer Game Warden Chris Baird. On October 17th, Baird met with Busbice, who said he accidentally killed a calf elk while trying to harvest the bull.
Busbice admitted he did not call Warden Baird because he was concerned about having been cited for earlier wildlife violations.
On May 23, 2017, Busbice appeared before Lincoln County Circuit Court Judge Frank Zebre and pled guilty to charges of intentionally allowing an antlerless elk to go to waste and taking an elk without the proper license.
He was sentenced to 180 days of jail, suspended, providing he led a law-abiding life during one and a half years of unsupervised probation, fines of $23,000.00; and revocation of his game and fish license privileges for two years, all of 2017 and 2018. Because Wyoming is part of the Interstate Wildlife Violator Compact, his loss of license applied in 45 states, including his home state of Louisiana.
When news of this broke, it created a major fallout.
“Last October, I inadvertently shot a female calf elk while attempting to shoot a bull elk. To make matters worse, I left the scene and failed to report the incident to the warden. The failure to immediately notify the warden was horrible judgment on my part, and for that, I was fined, placed on probation, and lost my privilege to hunt.
“To be clear, the shot was an accident, and while the failure to report my mistake was inexcusable, I have never and would never intentionally poach. This incident is not reflective of who I am as an outdoorsman. I have spent over 40 years speaking out against poaching and will continue to do everything I can to rebuild trust with the outdoor community.
“I am deeply sorry for what I did and I am aware that I breached the trust of my fellow hunters in the process. I have accepted the consequences of my mistake and hope everyone will forgive my lapse in judgement.”
Everyone did not.
The Outdoor Channel suspended Wildgame Nation and Busbice indefinitely.
By June 29, David E. Dudick, CEO of Plano Synergy announced, “Bill Busbice and Plano Synergy mutually agreed to end their association…. Plano Synergy will also be canceling the Wildgame Nation TV show.”
In 2019, Busbice filed a complaint Oct. 16 in Cook County Circuit Court against Troutman Sanders, and lawyers in the firm, Robert Browne Jr., Michael Friedman and Paul Gale, for malpractice in their representation of him in the Dave Williams scam.
The case was dismissed because Busbice had waited too long to sue. Busbice appealed and the appellate court affirmed the dismissal of Busbice’s legal malpractice complaint, finding that it was filed after the two-year limitations period had expired.
Busbice probably spent half a million or more in legal fees with his lawsuits, collecting almost nothing from the scamming Dave Williams and losing his malpractice lawsuits.
And he shot a female calf elk and tried to hide it, and his whole world came tumbling down.
.
Busbice got a raw deal. He shot a fucking elk on his own property. What’s the big deal ?
Busbice’s is a worthy apology. So unlike the “I take full responsibility but should face no blame” BS we’ve become accustomed to. Or the watery statements and spin from the likes of Mark Hildreth.
He may not have intended to shoot the cow elk but shoot it he did. He fired when the two were close together making it entirely his fault. He takes responsibility even though it cost him. A lot.
And that my friends is what a proper apology looks like.
Can you tell me where Dave Williams is now? I want to invest in a hunting movie where three lawyers go to prison and get out and join a cult.