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Vineyard with ties to alleged subscription fraud up for sale Bellinger Lane Vineyard Estate, at 4184 Bellinger Lane, has been listed for sale with Montana-based farm and ranch broker Fay Ranches. [Mail Tribune / Jamie Lusch] Wednesday Apr 26, 2017 at 6:50 PM Apr 26, 2017 at 7:10 PM Nick Morgan Mail Tribune @mtcrimebeat A sprawling vineyard property near Jacksonville with ties to an alleged nationwide subscription fraud scheme is up for sale for $13 million. Bellinger Lane Vineyard Estate, at 4184 Bellinger Lane, was listed April 17 with Montana-based farm and ranch broker Fay Ranches. The property's former trustee is Jeffrey Hoyal, who is facing a suit from the Federal Trade Commission alleging deceptive business practices in a complex renewal scheme that targeted subscribers of such publications as the Wall Street Journal and National Geographic. The property includes four houses, according to the Fay Ranches listing, which highlights features such as woven leather hand railings in a historic barn-turned-office, and a silver-leaf wainscoat in the "well-appointed theater." "Every detail is a reflection of the owner's dedication to quality and beauty," the listing says. Jackson County records show the property is owned by Crater Lake Trust, whose trustee until October was Hoyal, who was named with about 10 other people and numerous businesses in an FTC suit filed in U.S. District Court in Medford alleging they sold newspaper and magazine subscriptions at inflated prices using deceptive mailers. The deed was signed over to the trust's new trustee, David Hoyal, on Oct. 14.  Jeffrey Hoyal is being sued in Jackson County Civil Court for $5 million by his business partner Dennis Simpson, also a defendant in the FTC suit. Simpson alleges Hoyal mismanaged funds tied to a California housing project while he was trustee of the Scenic Trust over nine years, until November 2015. Scenic Trust owns Reality Kats, one of the companies named in the FTC suit. Simpson founded Reality Kats before selling the company to the trust, according to documents filed in district court and Jackson County. Hoyal previously asserted he worked as a consultant for the operation based out of White City and was not the owner. Reality Kats was the original buyer of the winery property, Jackson County property records show, purchasing the land for $1.75 million on July 18, 2005, from Naumes, Inc. Simpson sold the property to Crater Lake Trust, with Hoyal as the trustee, for $2 million on Aug. 8, 2007. Simpson is also suing Hoyal's lawyer, David Paul Lennon, in a dispute over the sale of property down the road at 3922 Bellinger Lane, according to a Jackson County civil case filed in February. Simpson claims that the zero-interest sale of the house in 2011 to Lennon and his wife, Jody Lennon, contained an enforceable clause that would force Lennon to pay the full balance from the $2.9 million sale after 10 years. Case filings show that Lennon and his wife are current on what they claim to be the agreed-upon $5,000-a-month payment for 50 years with zero interest. "At the time they made the agreement referred to above, Defendant David Lennon knew that in July 2061, Plaintiff Dennis Simpson would be 110 years old," Simpson's complaint said. In a response filed Monday, Lennon argued that Simpson and his wife, Qili Ye Simpson, "are not real parties in interest" because Reality Kats was the prior owner of the property, that the statute of limitations has passed on the agreement, that the oral agreement is not expressed anywhere in writing, and that he wasn't a licensed lawyer in Oregon at the time of the contract. Lennon is representing Hoyal and other businesses named in the suit, which the FTC alleges to have involved individuals and businesses working together in "complicated interrelationships." In the federal suit filed in 2016, the FTC alleges that more than 375 newspapers sent cease-and-desist letters to companies involved in the suit. The most recent filing in the FTC suit was Simpson's motion to be removed from the suit April 14. The two Jackson County suits involving Simpson have hearings set for May 15. Lennon is also representing the Oregon subscription renewal companies named in a pending case in the New York Supreme Court, filed in 2015 though the state's attorney general's office. The New York complaint listed example mailers that resembled genuine subscription renewal forms and bills for newspapers and magazines.  The most recent development in the New York case was filed in January, when Judge Carol Edmead ruled against Lennon's motion to adhere to a three-year statute of limitations and motion to dismiss the case, drawing precedent from the New York suit Schneiderman vs. Trump Entrepreneur Initiative LLC case, better known as the Trump University suit.  "Respondents' reliance on Trump in support of dismissal is misplaced, and their motion lacks merit," Edmead said in her ruling. The Oregon Attorney General's Office reached a settlement in 2015 in which participants agreed to pay $3 million to the state and $500,000 restitution to Oregon victims. Despite the agreement, the participants, including Hoyal and Simpson, denied any wrongdoing. Hoyal said last year that no one other than Simpson had sold subscriptions since mid-2015. New York Supreme Court records show that a trial is set for Sept. 27. — Reach reporter Nick Morgan at 541-776-4471 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @MTCrimeBeat.