At the center of a hometown corporate failure in Moberly, Mo., is Floyd E. Riley, the “consummate entrepreneur” and showman who is revered as Moberly’s booster and benefactor, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported on Saturday. Some of his past ventures have landed him in federal prison. His diverse list of ambitious business pursuits ranges from cattle embryos to incinerators, retread tires to cinnamon buns, coal to catfish and heavy equipment to freshwater lobster. His latest venture is called Worldwide Recycling Equipment Sales LLC, which resells, rents and builds heavy machinery used in the recycling, environmental cleanup and oil and gas industries. Like other Riley enterprises before it, the company has run aground financially. Worldwide filed for bankruptcy protection earlier this month, with a long list of creditors and under pressure from a bank that had filed its own suit for payment. On paper, Riley’s wife, Rebecca, is the one tied to the business. But it’s Floyd Riley, who drives the company-issued Cadillac SUV parked in a handicapped slot in front with a nice set of tires that haven’t been paid for. Riley was released from federal custody in 2006, after serving most of a 21-month prison sentence. He’d pleaded guilty to wire fraud, money laundering and transporting property in interstate commerce. The charges stemmed from two of his earlier Moberly businesses. But Riley isn’t the only person with a criminal record with ties to Worldwide. Its president, Jeffrey D. Sayre, is a former Missouri judge who served time on bribery charges, a detail that has been omitted from an aggressive publicity campaign.
