Lifestyles of the Rich and Shameless

D Magazine, Jun 01, 2003 by Rogers, Tim

Instead, he began assembling what was reportedly the most expensive penthouse in all of Miami, eventually putting $5 million into the unfinished space. "I've always wanted a beach house," Deason told the Miami Herald in 1997. He said his daughter, who was attending the University of Miami, introduced him to South Beach. "I absolutely fell in love with it. ... Talk about bodies. You know, on the French Riviera, I always say, eight out of 10 women are topless, and only one should be. On South Beach, eight out of 10 are topless, and eight out of 10 should be."

Darwin was living large: a man with golf to play on the West Coast, a company and a restaurant to run in Dallas, and 16 out of 20 breasts to appreciate on the East Coast. Enter Robert Holly, a man who knew how to buy and sell planes. The two were introduced by a mutual friend named Dennis Debo, who was a corporate jet pilot.

Together the three men started DDH Aviation, which took its name from their initials. For a time, DDH prospered. But last year, the endeavor began to unravel, DDH sued Holly and about a dozen other domestic and international parties, alleging that Holly was guilty of racketeering. Holly filed his answer to the allegations in March, but he didn't stop there. He made counterclaims against DDH and brought in other partiesincluding Deason himself. If these claims are successful, they could have dire implications for Deason and his continuing relationship with ACS, the company of his creation.

(While Deason did answer certain personal questions for this article, neither his attorneys nor Holly's would allow their clients to comment on the record about their respective lawsuits.)

Here we'll hit tough sledding through some prickly legalese. Buckle up.

A Curious Arrangement

Described in ACS proxy materials as "a startup corporate airplane brokerage company," DDH Aviation was organized in 1997. Holly and Debo served, respectively, as president and executive vice president, drawing salaries from the firm and commissions on completed sales. Holly and Debo were also granted minority stockholdings in the firm.

Deason's principal initial contribution to DDH appears to have been the guarantee of a bank tine of credit for the startup effort. He became the nonexecutive chairman and the majority stockholder. Under the arrangement, Deason wasn't involved on a day-to-day basis with the operation of DDH. He did, however, retain approval rights over airplane purchases that were the subject of his financial guarantee.

Interestingly, at the time that DDH was founded, Deason not only served as chairman and chief executive officer of ACS, but also as the chairman of Precept Business Services, a wholesale distributor of office paper products headquartered in Dallas. Precept, which had been spun out of ACS several years earlier, went public in 1998 with Deason's son Doug-a commercial real estate broker prior to joining Precept-as its president and chief operating officer. Precept also operated limousine services in Dallas, and Deason became chairman of it in 1999. During early 2001, Precept was forced into bankruptcy.