An Ex-Bartender Spills About Having a Con Man as a Boss
(‘Past Lives,’ Forensic Files)
Everyone has a story about a crazy boss, but few have worked for a grave robber who faked his own death — and became the subject of a Forensic Files episode.
After serving his time for fraud convictions related to his failed scheme to collect $7 million in insurance funds, Connecticut financial adviser Madison Rutherford started using “Bey” as his first name and opened Bey’s Sports Bar in Columbia, South Carolina.
Maybe the place seemed like paradise compared with the federal lockup where Rutherford served his time, but even the beer-swilling college kids who helped keep Bey’s in business bristled at the unsanitary conditions there.
Bey’s shuttered in 2013, but a former bartender named Lex — who asked that only her first name appear in print — recently talked to ForensicFilesNow.com about her wild ride at the sports bar:
Were most of the customers students? A group of guys between 21 and 35 who were called the wolfpack started going to Bey’s. Some underage people drank there. I had just turned 22 when I started working there.
Madison Rutherford conned a lot of people over his lifetime. Was he charming? No, he was mission-bound. Every time he came in, he did what he had to do and left. He was standoffish with girls. He was an alpha toward guys.
Did he seem legit? He seemed like what a crime boss was, for a lack of a better phrase. I heard that everything was under his dad’s name.
Did you know about his past? We all knew about his Forensic Files episode, but I didn’t watch it until later. We knew he wasn’t a good person, but there was something almost attractive about how he would just do what he wanted. The bar was wild west.
Is it true that he stole his employees’ tips? On St. Patrick’s Day, I worked early morning until 1 a.m. the next day. I made about $200 in tips. We pooled all tips and agreed we would split them evenly. He took them into the dishwashing room and took out whatever he wanted for himself. He took about half our tips.
What did you think when you finally watched the Forensic Files episode? Just very justified in thinking he was a crappy person.
What was the bar like toward the end? By 2013, we started seeing Bey a lot less. Business dropped. We had a manager who really tried to keep the bar afloat but we almost never saw Bey. Business just dropped and dropped and no one wanted to work there or go there.
Do you have any fond memories of Bey’s? Even though it was working for this crazy bar for a crazy person, it was truly one of the most fun times. There was music. I met lots of people there. The experience I had at that bar was a diamond in the rough.♠
That’s all for this post. Until next time cheers. — RR
Watch the Forensic Files episode on YouTube
Read the recap of the episode
In the original story I recall a woman who was defrauded by this guy. I wonder if he was forced to give restitution.
Unfortunately, no. Because Brigitte Beck gave him power of attorney, he couldn’t be prosecuted.
https://forensicfilesnow.com/index.php/2019/02/15/madison-rutherford-con-man-walking/
She was a gullible fool who actually knew Rutherford and his wife were crooked, and still gave them control of her finances hoping to make some dirty money for herself.
You’re just speculating and not very nice either. This guy conned her and she ended up penniless. She had to rely on friends for help and passed away without a single penny to her name. Shame on you for saying such a thing!
She was paid handsomely to open up checking accounts for the Becks to launder their money through, and was actually investigated by the FBI; she wasn’t complicit enough to prosecute, but don’t be fooled, the innocent naive act was just to keep her broke old butt out of the slammer.
I worked for Bey at Pop’s Pizza for about a year from 2010-2011. I started as a driver and was “promoted” to assistant manager. I can confirm what others have said about him being the caricature of a crime boss. Supporting this notion was an experience i had while working at the counter.
A few days before, the front window had been kicked in by what looked to be a stiletto heel. I was manning the counter when a gruff, older man came in. He had a cleft lip and was wearing a trench coat. He walked up to the counter and asked “Is Bey in?” I had previously been instructed to always say Bey was not available, regardless of if he was in or not. I told him “No he isn’t, but I can take a message.” To this, the gruff man replied with, “Okay, well if you see him, tell him that “Magic Man wants his GOD DAMN money.” I wrote the message, addressed to Bey verbatim, on an order slip and hung it on the wall alongside other notes.
There had been talk among some other employees about the young women Bey would bring to his bar and allegedly take back home. The running theory is the window got kicked in over debts related to sex work.
This doesn’t even begin to touch on the sleazy, bait-and-switch nature of employment at his establishments. Employees turned over like dominoes. Shortly after being hired there was a big “employee meeting” where everyone was made to fill out their W-2 forms. This was all a lie, as by tax season we would find out that we needed to file a 1099 since we were all technically “independent contractors.”
My employment with him ultimately ended when i was injured in the kitchen (That’s another story in and of itself), which I’m sure you already know i never saw a cent of compensation as I was never technically an employee of the establishment.
Yikes, a short-changed pimp! Bey Rutherford was such bad news in so many ways. Thanks for writing and I’m glad you survived your tenure at Pop’s — and hope your injury healed.
I actually worked for several years at a title company in Overland Park, Kansas where Madison Rutherford was my boss. We were never close. I viewed him as a sleaze ball from the beginning. I don’t know how he ever got hired as an accountant. I found a software program that would file our required state filings. I filled in the numbers provided by Madison and ran the check and nothing added up. We (the head of accounting) and I didn’t have time to correct and it wasn’t our job. I was shocked to find out it took over 9 months for just one state to figure out our filing was a mess and we had to refile just for that state. Typical government …. requires filings but never really access the information provided.
There came a time that the tension between Madison and me was thick. I knew, and I think he knew, that his time was short with the company. I remember going on vacation and told the head of accounting that if he wasn’t gone when I came back, I wasn’t coming back. I called the Friday before I was to return to make sure that Madison had been fired. He hadn’t. They assured me that because I had all the info on the bank info, signatories with the state, etc. that they needed me there to remove his name. They were true to their word and fired him one week later. I often wonder if they would have pursued him regarding their suspicion that he had stolen at least $50,000 if not more, then maybe he wouldn’t have been able to swindle so many people out of the money he did. He still makes my skin crawl just thinking about him.
Mary: While his changes of identity may have enabled non-detection, it’s surprising he was allowed to run a business after serious fraud convictions or function as an accountant – unless you mean this was before the convictions. Here in UK he would not be permitted a formal accountancy position as membership of the accountancy body – required by any decent employer – is licensed (ie, criminal and other checks), nor allowed to register as a business-owner (though he could get someone to front it) as that is centrally licensed and – I think – subject to non-fraud/theft conviction. He’s proven via fundamental dishonesty/serious fraud that he’s unfit to handle anyone else’s money, property and business. Despite ID changes his background would be detected here and he wouldn’t be issued a license to function as an accountant.
Thanks for writing in with this, Mary — glad you survived your stint with M.R., yikes. It’s crazy that someone who so many people find sleazy can somehow fool other people into hiring him into a supervisory role. One truism from Forensic Files and life in general is that incompetent people rarely get kicked out of their jobs in a timely fashion.
https://forensicfilesnow.com/index.php/2017/08/04/dr-anthony-pignataro-bad-plastic-surgeon/
That Rutherford faked his death likely means everything he claimed and provided to potential employers was fake: cv, diplomas, etc. Only a minority of jobs psychologically screen… but had he been so screened one presumes the rooftop claxons would sound N…O…!
(I’m reminded of ex-police officer Antoinette Frank, on Louisiana death row for murders committed on the job: despite psychological screening – which proved ominous – denying her entry on grounds of character flaws such as honesty and stability, she was nonetheless recruited per affirmative action… and proved fatally disastrous. Opinions vary viz usefulness/accuracy of testing – but in this case those managers who disregarded the screening warning had some difficult questions to face – and rightfully so. It is also thought she murdered her father, whom she lived with as an adult.)