More details about the ownership history of privately held Reynolds and Reynolds Co. emerged last week in court documents filed as part of the federal tax fraud case against Bob Brockman, Reynolds' former chairman and CEO.
The Dayton, Ohio, dealership management system giant has declined to disclose the company's ownership structure. A spokesman told Automotive News via email this month that "Mr. Brockman is not a shareowner in the company."
New documents filed by federal prosecutors provide a glimpse into Reynolds' ownership as of early 2019. The prosecution's filing was a response to a Dec. 8 motion by Brockman's defense lawyers requesting a competency hearing to determine whether Brockman, 79, can assist in his defense. Brockman has received a diagnosis indicative of Parkinson's disease or Lewy body dementia that has affected his ability to recall and process information, according to his attorneys.
The prosecutors' filing included copies of a deposition Brockman gave in January 2019 in a civil antitrust case involving Reynolds, during which he said the DMS giant was a subsidiary of a company called Dealer Computer Services, which was owned by Universal Computer Systems Holding Inc.
An entity called Spanish Steps — one of the companies identified in the government's case as allegedly controlled by Brockman — owned Universal Computer Systems Holding, Brockman said, according to a transcript of the deposition.
