...Plaintiffs charge embezzlement

The civil trial in the case of a Duluth woman accused of buying a house, cars and clothes with $6 million designated to feed starving Africans began Monday.

Juliet Cotton, 37, arrived for court in an elegant black suit to defend herself, without an attorney, against claims from her business partners that she embezzled international loans she acquired to launch a rice farm in Ghana.

She is not charged with a crime.

The civil suit is being heard in Superior Court in Gwinnett, the county in which her former company, Quality Grain Inc., listed its address. Her company office since has closed.

Cotton claims the two men suing her were partners in her U.S. company but not in the overseas operation in Ghana. She is countersuing on grounds that they are meddling in her affairs and slandering her.

The lawsuit against her was brought by her uncle, Oscar Hudson, who was a business partner, and James McGarrh, an investor.

Cotton announced in court that she dissolved her company, which had no assets left to disperse to its shareholders.

"I'm not sure they can use that to shirk their responsibility," said attorney Michael Dever, who represents Hudson.

The trial got off to a slow start because Judge Fred Bishop had to explain various courtroom procedures to Cotton, who is not a lawyer. She has a right to represent herself but must abide by the rules of evidence, he told her.

During jury selection, Cotton covered her face with her hands and asked for a brief recess. It was granted.

The judge also granted her motion for a gag order, barring both sides from talking to the press during the trial.

The government of Ghana backed loans that Cotton received from banks in Atlanta to finance the rice venture, which it was hoped would provide a food staple and save the African country $120 million a year on rice imports.

After six years, the government of Ghana was forced to take over the project and cover the debt created by Quality Grain or risk damaging its worldwide credit. Only one-40th of the planned 20,000-acre plantation is being cultivated.

The project has become a symbol of political corruption in Ghana's political arena.

Ghana President John Kufuor emerged the winner in last year's election, in part, by accusing the sitting administration and local officials of "wasting the nation's resources in corrupt deals."

Hudson's civil complaint accuses Cotton of spending some of the rice venture's money on two Mercedeses, a Jaguar, Armani clothes and a down payment on a $1.7 million home in a gated community along the Chattahoochee.

She also paid herself $830,000 and her then-husband $400,000 in salaries, the suit claims.

Cotton denies any wrongdoing.

The case took a while to come to trial, first because Cotton's former lawyer withdrew and then because she said a difficult pregnancy had caused her to become seriously ill. She said she suffered some memory loss after going through complications while delivering twins last year.

Hudson and others who had been affiliated with Quality Grain have said the FBI has questioned them about the case.