Judge orders Brandon Barber to jail

Former developer Brandon Barber,right, is escorted into the John Paul Hammerschmidt Federal Building by associate Kristen Foodim, left, Monday, May 6th, 2013, in Fayetteville.  Barber has been charges with 27 counts of conspiracy and wire-, bank- and bankruptcy fraud.
Former developer Brandon Barber,right, is escorted into the John Paul Hammerschmidt Federal Building by associate Kristen Foodim, left, Monday, May 6th, 2013, in Fayetteville. Barber has been charges with 27 counts of conspiracy and wire-, bank- and bankruptcy fraud.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Erin Setser ordered former Fayetteville developer Brandon Barber to be sent to jail Tuesday because a restraining order bars him from living with his girlfriend in New York City.

Setser has allowed Barber home incarceration in New York, but she said in a hearing Tuesday that he has no permanent residence. A New York court issued a temporary restraining order against Barber that prevents him from having contact with his girlfriend's two children, who stay with her part time.

Barber is scheduled for trial on federal bank and bankruptcy fraud charges June 17. He appeared in U.S. District Court in Fayetteville in hearings Monday and Tuesday for hearings about prosecutors' request that his bond be revoked because he violated conditions of his release. Barber paid $50,000 in cash on a $500,000 bond when he was first arrested March 20.

His attorney, Asa Hutchinson III, suggested Barber could live with his parents in Jonesboro, but Setser said such a request would have to be made in a written motion to the court.

The federal charges against Barber involve about $30 million in loans and his $53 million Chapter 7 personal bankruptcy in 2009, debt Barber sought to have discharged because he claimed to have no assets. A grand jury in Fort Smith has returned two indictments that allege several schemes by Barber and several co-defendants.

Once a prominent developer in Northwest Arkansas, Barber changed Fayetteville’s skyline with the seven-story, $17 million Legacy Building, which was completed in 2007.

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