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COPYRIGHT 2005 St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Byline: Jack Naudi
Jul. 15--Bryan Feldman walked into a Las Vegas branch office of American Equity Mortgage Inc. on June 30, ready for a tough, but exciting day at work.
As assistant branch manager and one of the top sales producers in the company, Feldman was set to close loans that would generate $27,000 in fees for American Equity. That's a number many of the company's loan officers don't reach in a month, he said.
"We were really humping," he said.
What Feldman didn't know was that within hours he would be fired: a victim -- or an accomplice, depending on who's talking -- in the contentious fight for American Equity Mortgage of Maryland Heights.
The fight has led to contempt of court citations, employee firings and combined expenditures of more than $90,000 a month for bodyguards and security by the main characters involved. Another casualty has been one of the St. Louis area's most distinctive radio campaigns.
The battle for American Equity, first detailed in a Post-Dispatch story in March, started in St. Louis County Circuit Court. In October, Chief Executive Deanna Daughhetee Vinson filed for divorce from founder Ray Vinson.
Although he holds no formal position, Ray Vinson long had been the company's...
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