U.S. Farm & Ranch Supply Company, Inc. (d/b/a USFR Media Group) was an integrated media company incorporated in Texas in February 2000.[1] A family-owned business, it was headed by Chairman and CEO Gregory L. Brown, a rancher who previously owned an independent oil and gas firm, and his wife, socialite Linda Lyons Brown.[2][3][4] It owned television stations, published lifestyle magazines, and created infomercials and promotional videos.[5]
In June 2001, Stanford Financial Group started investing in USFR Media Group as one of many companies that was part of that Ponzi scheme. In total, Stanford invested almost $25 million over nine years.[5]
In 2007, they moved their headquarters to a 30,000 square foot broadcasting facility in Houston which had been built by Time Warner and used by News 24 Houston.[10]
Stanford Financial Group's marketing publications touted USFR Media Group as a piece of their investment portfolio.[11]
In Feb. 2009, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission began a lawsuit against Allen Stanford and the financial services companies involved in his Ponzi scheme. USFR Media Group and other companies that were part of the Stanford investment portfolio were put into receivership. That same year, a shareholder buyout removed America One from USFR. USFR formed a video production division to produce infomercials and promotional videos.[5]
As owners of KTBU, USFR Media Group had ended much of the remaining local programming and mostly aired paid programming, network reruns, and Sunday services from Lakewood Church. However, they had been operating at a loss for several years and could not attract more investors because Stanford was still a stakeholder in their company.[5] John B. Goodman was still an equity shareholder; in December 2009 he formed a Limited Liability Company to buy Stanford's interest[12] and in April 2010 the courts were petitioned to allow this purchase, but in that same timeframe he was arrested for DUI manslaughter during a hit-and-run car accident.[13]
In 2011, USFR Media Group sold KTBU for $16 million to Spanish Broadcasting System. The sale included all assets, the tower operating company, licenses that were still being held under the name Humanity Interested Media (from when KTBU first went on the air), and permits.[14][15]
^Feser, Katherine (8 January 2007). "DEAL OF THE WEEK - Westway Park is back in the news". Houston Chronicle. Business section. p. 5.
^"Investment Banking". Stanford Eagle 2008. Stanford Financial Group Company: 15. 2008. Retrieved 26 February 2024.
^"KTBU Acquisition LLC". OpenCorporates: The Open Database of the Corporate World. Archived from the original on 26 February 2024. Retrieved 26 February 2024.
