The unsettling story of Buddy Johnson’s personal finances came out in dribs and drabs: mounting debt, unpaid taxes, foreclosures, and a lawsuit by an elderly couple who say the former Hillsborough elections chief swindled them out of their retirement nest egg.
But now, with new documents and Johnson’s sworn testimony in the lawsuit made public, the story can be told whole.
New details show that Johnson deceived Cecil and Nita Bass, who sold him the 20-acre tract held in their family since the Great Depression.
A newly released internal memo at the Plant City bank that loaned Johnson $400,000 shows he misled officials there, as well. And Johnson’s credit report suggests an answer to the mystery of why his name was misspelled on other loan documents.